By Canadian Press

Sentencing arguments in murder of Calgary Stampeder Mylan Hicks

May 30, 2019 | 2:02 AM

CALGARY — A sentencing hearing is to begin today for a man convicted of second-degree murder in the death of a Calgary Stampeders football player.

Nelson Lugela, who is 21, was convicted earlier this year of shooting Mylan Hicks outside Calgary’s Marquee Beer Market in 2016.

The trial heard that several Stampeders, including 23-year-old Hicks, a player on the team’s practice roster, had been celebrating a Canadian Football League victory over Winnipeg in a game hours earlier.

A disagreement over a spilled drink in the bar intensified after closing time in the parking lot.

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Witnesses testified that after some pushing and shoving, a person who appeared to be holding a handgun opened fire at Hicks as he was running for cover.

The football player was hit twice, in the abdomen and chest, and died in hospital.

His mother, Renee Hill, travelled from the family’s home in Detroit to hear the verdict in March. She said at the time that she is angry and not sure what she will say at the sentencing hearing.

“How do I arrive at this forgiveness on sentencing day when I get a chance to speak to this young man? Do I tear him down, (when) I feel in my heart he’s already torn down, or do I build him up?” she said.

“If that killer ever gets free — and I hope he doesn’t — then he has the capacity and the mind set, I believe, to repeat what he did to my son. I wouldn’t want that for any citizen in the United States or Canada.

“Nobody deserves to lose their life in a cowardly act.”

Court heard Lugela and two other young men jumped into an SUV and sped away after Hicks was hit. Police arrested three people about 45 minutes later when they returned to the scene.

Several witnesses identified Lugela as the man holding the gun.

Justice Keith Yamauchi said he looked at all the evidence presented at trial and was confident Lugela gunned down Hicks.

“Mr. Lugela was clearly aware of his actions,” the judge said in finding him guilty.

“He had the ability to fire, not one, but two bullets into the body of Mylan Hicks.”

— Follow @BillGraveland on Twitter

Bill Graveland, The Canadian Press