PRINCE ALBERT, Saskatchewan, April 1 (UPI) -- A Canadian judge in Saskatchewan sentenced a prison inmate to life after he confessed to fatally stabbing a fellow inmate 187 times in 2003.
Alvin Starblanket, 27, appeared in court in Prince Albert for the beginning of his first-degree murder trial Monday, but his lawyer announced he wanted to enter a guilty plea to second-degree instead, the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., reported.
The judge gave Starblanket an automatic life sentence, and ordered he serve at least 13 years before being eligible for parole. Starblanket was already serving a 13-year sentence on a different conviction.
Starblanket and another inmate were charged with the stabbing death of Aime Simard, 35, on July 18, 2003, at the Saskatchewan Penitentiary's maximum security unit.
Simard was a confessed and convicted contract killer for the Hells Angels who later testified against members of the organization in exchange for an earlier parole date, the Saskatoon StarPhoenix reported.
The first degree trial for the other accused, Christopher Cluney, 33, is scheduled to begin Wednesday. He has entered a plea of innocent, the reports said.
