IWK shooter Marriott sentenced to 15 years

Aaron Marriott has beensentenced to 15 years in prison forashooting outside a Halifax hospital in 2008.

Nova Scotia Supreme Court Justice Kevin Coady accepted a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence.

"You're a young man and this is a sad day," Coady said Monday as he sentenced Marriott.

"One of the things that has happened hereis that community confidence has been shattered because of gunfire near a maternity and children's hospital.

"The public generally thinks that the gun incidents in this city are carried out by people they don't know, in places where they don't go. This changed all that."

Marriott shot Jason Hallett on Nov. 18, 2008, outside the IWK Health Centre in downtown Halifax.

Hallett, an associate of the Melvin crime family, was wounded in the wrist. The shooting marked an escalation in the drug war between the Melvin and Marriott families.

Marriott pleaded guilty last month to attempted murder.

Marriott has spent 29 months at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Dartmouth.Both theCrown and defence said he should notget credit for time served.

Prosecutor Denise Smith said the court needed to send a strong message because the shooting happened in theearly evening during a shift change at the hospital.

Defence lawyer Kevin Burke said Marriott got his high school diploma while behind bars.