REGINA — The sentencing hearing on Feb. 4 for Jason McKay, who killed 33-year-old Jenny Leigh McKay in 2017, began with the voices of the people who loved her most. Her father, mother, brother, sister and stepdaughter described a woman whose life was full of creativity, humour, and promise.
A sentencing decision is expected later this month.
At the hearing, Jenny was described as a poet who later became a journalist, someone who carried her curiosity and empathy into her work and relationships. She loved the outdoors, music, gardening, and the ocean. Her family described her as witty, warm and fiercely loyal, a person who filled rooms with laughter and held a deep love for her family and her Nova Scotia home.
They said she was trying to make changes in her life before she was murdered in Regina, working to confront what was making her unhappy and to find a safer, more peaceful path.
On Wednesday, Crown prosecutor Adam Breker asked for 18 years with no parole eligibility. Defence lawyer Mike Nolin argued for no more than 15 years, saying 12 would be appropriate.
Justice Beverly L. Klatt will give her sentencing decision later this month.
‘One of the saddest things I’ve ever heard’
Jenny’s sister, Allison Campbell, said listening to Jenny’s 911 call a week before her death was “one of the saddest things I've ever heard” and remains unbearable.
“To imagine your family member facing domestic violence alone and knowing she was fearful for her life is very painful. I was more angry, heartbroken, and grief-stricken than I had ever been before.”
Jenny’s father, Doug Campbell, a pastor, said one detail from that call has stayed with him. Jenny identified herself by her maiden name, Campbell, rather than McKay. He believed this reflected her growing desire to distance herself from the marriage.
“She wanted to get away from the husband she at times called a monster," said Doug Campbell. "She was wanting out. He murdered her and she is gone from this life forever. He was supposed to love and protect her. Instead, he threatened her, abused her, butchered her.”
A brother’s memories of childhood and the life she was building
Jenny’s brother Ben Campbell, described his sister as equal parts rebel, artist, athlete and dreamer. Growing up two years apart, they were inseparable.
“We found rivers to swim in and woods to wander. We walked miles down country roads to find pizza and candy and movies to rent. We played baseball, made music, and watched the stars. We threw parties when our parents weren't home. We talked about what our lives would become.”
Ben told the court he believes Jenny’s best years were still ahead of her.
“Time was taken away from her, over half of her life senselessly stolen. I'm outraged by this.”
Two months before she was killed, Jenny visited him in Calgary. They cooked dinner, hiked in the mountains, and hit some balls in a batting cage.
“She was clearly struggling with her drinking and her relationship,” he said, “but she was beginning to figure out what was making her unhappy and what she could do about it. She was ready to start making changes.”
A mother’s grief and the images she can’t forget
Jenny’s mother, Glenda Campbell, described a daughter who was loving, artistic, and deeply connected to her family. She spoke of Jenny’s talents as a writer, musician, and painter, and of the fear and isolation she believed Jenny endured in the months leading up to her death.
“For me, the crime started long before her murder, years of being beaten down,” she said.
She described imagining Jenny wandering Regina’s streets with her guitar, a favourite painting of their Nova Scotia beach, and a few belongings, “lonely, looking for safety, fearful of her future.”
She said images of Jenny’s final hours, and the brutality of her death, remain impossible to shake.
“Her fear as her husband was brutally and gruesomely draining her life from her, I can't get those images out of my mind and my heart is ripped out. Or watching the Regina news regarding the homicide, they showed a clip of the coroner transporting her body. That was a new level of horror for my senses to process and another image forever stamped in my mind.”
She said all she has left are memories and photos of Jenny.
“I look at Jenny in pictures, see her bright, sparkling eyes and her wonderful smile.”
A daughter’s loss at 17
Jason McKay’s daughter, Alyssa McKay, also addressed the court, describing how Jenny’s death and her father’s incarceration upended her life.
“I was only 17 starting my first day of Grade 12,” she said. “I was just a kid who had just lost both her parents.”
For years she carried a private burden of guilt, believing she could somehow have changed the outcome.
The first trial left her struggling with severe depression, self-harm and suicidal thoughts. After the verdict she attempted to overdose and spent three weeks in a mental-health unit.
Allyssa said she still misses not being able to talk or see her father whenever she wants.
“I miss our bonfires, our long talks and dancing in the living room,” she said.
She regrets the moments she brushed off with Jenny.
“Jenny always wanted me to try more things like cooking and yoga. She wanted me to get more involved, but I always thought it was unnecessary and a waste of my time. I can't even begin to count the amount of times that I have thought back on those moments with Jenny and wish I would have just said ‘yes,’ even if it was just once. Simple moments like learning to cook a few meals with a parent is something I took for granted and something I will regret forever.”
The long legal saga
Jason McKay, now 54, was first convicted in 2020 of second-degree murder in Jenny’s death. But in 2024, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal overturned the conviction, finding the trial judge failed to consider expert evidence about how drugs and alcohol could impair judgment and memory, and whether evidence of anger or instinctive reaction could still be relevant to intent.
Before a new trial could begin in January, McKay pleaded guilty.
According to court documents, police were called to the couple’s Regina home around 3:30 a.m. on Sept. 6, 2017, after Jenny’s mother requested a wellness check. When officers arrived, McKay answered the door covered in blood and appeared to be intoxicated. He told them, “She’s upstairs, she’s dead, I killed her.”
Jenny was found on the kitchen floor with a large knife in her chest, having suffered dozens of stab wounds in what the trial judge described as an attack of “unspeakable brutality.”
In 2020, McKay was sentenced to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 17 years.
ljoy@sasktoday.ca
