Warning: This article contains graphic and disturbing details that may be triggering to readers. A Barrie judge will soon decide the sentence of Gabriel DiCecco, who earlier this year was convicted by a jury of manslaughter in the Jan. 2024 killing of his best friend. The Crown is asking that Justice Vanessa Christie sentence DiCecco to 15 years behind bars for the shooting William Schernhammer and dumping Schernhammer’s remains in a ditch in Alliston. Crown attorney Raffi Dergalstanian told the court the killing “wasn’t an accident,” referring to the shooting as “near murder.” A Barrie jury found DiCecco not guilty of murder, in late-May, but how the jury reached its decision is unclear. The facts of the case, including whether DiCecco was provoked by Schernhammer, will be up to Justice Christie to decide when sentencing DiCecco. The Crown described the killing as “an ambush,” saying Schernhammer was defenceless and vulnerable. The prosecution said forensic evidence showed Schernhammer was facing forward in the passenger seat of DiCecco’s car, still wearing his seatbelt when he was shot several times by DiCecco who then “figured out a way to hide his crime.” Dergalstanaian told the court DiCecco treated his friend “like a piece of garbage,” when he dumped his body in a ditch and lied to Schernhammer’s loved ones and police about what happened. DiCecco, the Crown argued, only told police where he dumped Schernhammer’s remains, nine days later, when he sensed investigators were not buying his story and were closing in on him. DiCecco had told police a mysterious masked man approached them that night from a field and shot Schernhammer before running off. DiCecco eventually admitted to shooting Schernhammer, alleging his friend was trying to sexually assault him that night. The Crown referred to DiCecco as a “public safety risk” who lacked remorse or insight into his actions. Defence lawyer Sam Goldstein told the court the only way the jury could have reached its manslaughter verdict was by believing DiCecco may have been provoked by Schernhammer. “We must look at the facts,” Goldstein argued, asking the court to consider “Why did the jury find manslaughter?” Goldstein said DiCecco was provoked and shot Schernhammer in a chaotic panic. DiCecco testified he killed his friend because Schernhammer tried to sexually violate him in his car that night and he reacted by shooting him. He said he grabbed a loaded shot gun he had with him that night and shot Schernhammer a few times. DiCecco testified he had the gun with him that night because he and Schernhammer had returned from Barrie where Schernhammer picked up drugs from drug dealers DiCecco said he feared. Everything in this case “was about provocation,” Goldstein argued. “There is no ambiguity here that this was manslaughter,” he added, “You can’t understand this case without the recognition that my client was a victim of sexual assault in that moment.” The defence asked the court to sentence DiCecco to five years, less time served in pre-sentence custody. He has been in jail since his arrest in late-January 2024 and will be credited with about four years in custody. DiCecco testified he was sexually violated by Schernhammer about 10 years ago, but his allegations were not investigated by police and Schernhammer was never charged. Justice Christie is scheduled to deliver her sentencing decision in November.
