MOOSE JAW — Vincent William Picken, a Moose Jaw man who was convicted last year of murdering Shaun Holmes, has had his second-degree murder conviction reduced to manslaughter and his life sentence reduced to 20 years.
Picken, 37, appeared in Court of King’s Bench on Oct. 3, where he pleaded guilty to the lesser and included offence of manslaughter, in connection with Holmes’ death on Oct. 28, 2020, in Moose Jaw.
A jury originally found Picken guilty of second-degree murder on Nov. 1, 2023, a sentence that carried a mandatory sentence of life imprisonment. A judge then determined in February 2024 that he would be ineligible for parole for 12 years.
However, the convicted murderer appealed his sentence to the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, which ordered in April 2025 that he receive a new trial.
In its ruling, the appeals court said that Chief Justice M.D. Popescul, the trial judge, erred when he did not instruct the jury in late 2023 to rule on the statutory partial defence of provocation but did instruct members to rule on self-defence.
Justice Popescul refused to instruct them on provocation since he said it was incompatible with self-defence and there was “no air of reality” to the accused’s assertion that Holmes provoked him, the document said.
After the jury convicted Picken of second-degree murder — Holmes died after receiving seven stab wounds and 28 cutting wounds to his upper body — and Popescul ruled that he would be ineligible for parole for 12 years, Picken appealed. He argued that Popescul erred by failing to instruct the jury on provocation and the availability of a verdict of manslaughter.
During Picken’s re-trial on Oct. 3, 2025, Justice Catherine Dawson accepted his guilty plea to the lesser and included offence of manslaughter, saying she was “satisfied that the facts support the charge,” according to an appearance history document of the trial.
Dawson then sentenced Picken to 7,300 days — or roughly 20 years — of incarceration in a federal penitentiary, the document said. Since he had already served 1,681 of actual remand days, she accepted — and agreed with — the joint submission that he should receive 1.5 days’ credit for each day he had spent on remand to that date.
This meant his enhanced remand credit would be 2,522 days served, leaving him with 4,778 days — roughly 13 years — left to spend in prison.
Furthermore, the judge ordered that Picken serve half — or 3,650 days — of his 7,300-day sentence before he became eligible for parole, the document said. However, based on the number of days he had spent in jail and the remand enhanced credit, he would be eligible to apply for parole in 1,128 days — or in roughly three years.
“That does not mean you will get parole, (as) that is the period you must serve before you can make an application,” Justice Dawson wrote. “Thereafter, the parole board will determine how the balance of your sentence is served.”
Meanwhile, the judge prevented Picken from possessing any firearm, crossbow, prohibited weapon, prohibited device, ammunition, or explosive substance for 10 years after he was released from custody. She also ordered him to provide a DNA sample or other bodily substances.
Dawson added that a pre-trial date of Friday, Oct. 17, should be vacated.
