Crown and defence lawyers sparred Tuesday as they suggested two very different sentences for Sean Haverty.

A jury convicted Haverty of manslaughter in April in connection with the 2015 shooting death of Chris Schweitzer.

The two men were neighbours on Tiffany Street in Guelph. The shooting occurred moments after Haverty showed up on Schweitzer’s front porch with a gun.

Haverty testified that he had fired two shots in self-defence after Schweitzer attacked him, and left without realizing he had hit his neighbour.

Haverty had been charged with first-degree murder. The verdict suggests that jurors did not believe Haverty intended to kill Schweitzer.

In court Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Judith MacDonald asked for Haverty to be given a 12-year prison sentence for manslaughter, followed by three years for two weapons-related offences.

MacDonald said her recommendation takes into account that Haverty left the scene of the crime and never called 911.

“He still maintains to this day he was justified in shooting Chris Schweitzer,” she said

Defence lawyer Ari Goldkind countered with a suggestion of a five-year sentence in total. The minimum sentence for manslaughter in Canada is four years in prison.

“The way our law works, like it or not, is that if you don’t have the intention to commit murder, and something happens sort of split-second at the door … our law doesn’t see that person as a murderer,” Goldkind said outside court.

Friends and relatives of Schweitzer had a chance to speak at the hearing, with many of them saying they remembered Schweitzer as a “gentle giant.”

His father, George Schweitzer, detailed how his family “now suffers from anxiety, insomnia and panic attacks” due to the shooting.

The court also heard Goldkind read letters from supporters of Haverty, including his partner Pam Feenstra.

“Sean always strives to do the right thing,” she wrote.

“With all my heart and soul, I know he is a good person to the core.”

The judge’s decision on sentencing is expected to be announced July 11. With credit for time already spent in custody, Haverty will have already served three years of any sentence by that point.

With reporting by Abigail Bimman