Manitoba’s top court has resentenced a man convicted in the shooting death of a 20-year-old woman to 12 years in prison, months after his second-degree murder conviction was thrown out. William Comber, now 27, was originally found guilty of second-degree murder in 2022 by a jury in the killing of Hailey Dugay on Nov. 17, 2018. He was later sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole for 12 years. Dugay died after the truck she was riding in was struck by gunfire late at night as it was driving down a gravel road near Fraserwood, about 90 kilometres north of Winnipeg. The Court of Appeal struck down the murder conviction in March, ruling it was “unreasonable” and that it could not be determined with the required certainty whether he intended to shoot a vehicle occupant or its taillight. In a decision released Monday, the court sentenced Comber to 12 years. With credit for time already served, his sentence amounts to just under five years. “Discharging a firearm at the tail lights of a fleeing occupied vehicle on an unlit gravel road while it was swerving is extremely dangerous conduct,” said Court of Appeal Justice Janice leMaistre, writing on behalf of the court in her 19-page decision. “It involves the conscious creation of a substantial risk of harm and demonstrates a marked indifference to the potentially life-threatening consequences to others.” Court previously heard that on the day of the killing, Comber had been deer hunting with another man, Jesse Paluk, and both had their rifles in Paluk’s truck when they went to a bar in Fraserwood that evening. Paluk later got into a fight with his ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend around 11 p.m., prompting the bar to close that night. While travelling toward Gimli, Paluk stopped on the side of a gravel road where he spotted three trucks approaching. Fearing he was about to “get jumped” because of the earlier bar fight, he stood in the middle of the road with a loaded rifle and told Comber to “have his back.” Paluk subsequently fired into the air, while Comber was at the side of the road — unknown to any of the vehicles’ occupants — firing at the passing truck from about 50 to 100 yards away. One of Paluk’s bullets struck the taillight as the truck fled. Another passed through the tailgate and hit Dugay, one of four occupants in the truck, who was seated in the rear passenger seat. None of the three vehicles’ occupants were involved in Paluk’s fight. Dugay’s boyfriend drove to the hospital in Teulon, where she was declared dead, while her two friends — also passengers in the truck — performed CPR on the way. Paluk was originally charged with second-degree murder in connection with Dugay’s death, but ballistics testing confirmed the fatal shot did not come from his rifle. During the three-week trial, Crown prosecutors urged jurors to reject a manslaughter finding, arguing that Comber was an experienced hunter and was aware of the consequences of firing at an occupied vehicle. A victim impact statement from Dugay’s mother, Dana DesRoches, described her as a “beautiful, selfless, smart young woman” whose life had just begun. DesRoches said the new sentence “doesn’t change the pain of our loss,” adding that no sentence would ever bring her daughter back. ‘An unusual case’: defence lawyer Martin Glazer, Comber’s defence lawyer, said the new sentence is “not as bad as it could have been, and it’s not as good as we wanted it to be.” During the manslaughter sentencing hearing, the Crown sought 14 years, while Glazer argued for time served, telling the panel of appeal judges that “justice had been achieved” and noting his client had already served six years in custody. Manslaughter involving a firearm carries a mandatory minimum sentence of four years in Canada. Glazer had previously told court that Comber was shooting at the truck’s taillight to frighten its occupants. While he acknowledged the “horrible tragedy” that occurred, he maintained his client had done enough time. Glazer described the case as “unusual” on Wednesday, adding that his client has always maintained his innocence and that the jury was wrong to find him guilty of second-degree murder. “We’re happy that was fixed on appeal, but the sentence… in the overall scheme of things, it’s a lot better than a life sentence,” Glazer said. “With early parole, he could be out within 20 months or so.”
