‘A disgusting crime’: Scotty Jimmy sentenced for murder of Cody Tait

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On March 27, 2022, Cody Tait became collateral damage when he was shot in the back during a gang mission gone wrong.

Scotty Lee Jimmy fired the shot while chasing Tait and a woman who was the target of his gang’s revenge. After Tait collapsed outside on the Beardy’s and Okemasis Cree Nation, Jimmy and four others continued to beat him while the woman tried to shield his body.

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“You wouldn’t chase down and shoot and then beat, ultimately killing, a dog in this way, and you and others did this to another human being. It is absolutely appalling, and it is absolutely a disgusting and repugnant crime,” Justice Richard Danyliuk told a Saskatoon King’s Bench courtroom before sentencing Jimmy to life in prison with no parole eligibility for 15 years.

“Mr. Tait loses his life, over what?”

On Dec. 19, 2024, Jimmy, 23, was the last of five people to be sentenced in connection with Tait’s death. He was charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser included offence of second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence.

Parole eligibility can be set between 10 and 25 years. Danyliuk accepted a joint submission from the Crown and defence for a 15-year period of parole ineligibility.

Reading an agreed statement of facts, Crown prosecutor Andrew Clements said Jimmy agreed to shoot Trinity Scott as retribution for a previous shooting against his fellow gang member, Robbie Brent Cameron.

Cameron, Jimmy, Dana Andrew Morningchild, Allison Ocean Sky Bear and Precious Gamble drove around the community north of Saskatoon, looking for Scott. After seeing her and Tait at a fundraiser later that day, Cameron, Morningchild and Jimmy chased the pair inside a nearby home, where Tait was shot.

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The 22-year-old was left to die while the group drove to Saskatoon, court heard.

Four days later, Jimmy told RCMP that he chased and beat Tait. He said he had a gun, but denied firing it.

However, in recorded jail calls, Jimmy told people he was the shooter and asked someone to get rid of his gun, the facts state.

“He knew there was going to be a shooting that day. He planned to be a shooter that day,” Clements said, arguing why Jimmy should receive the highest sentence of everyone involved.

“He bears the most culpability and moral responsibility for the offence.”

In March 2024, Cameron and Morningchild were sentenced for their roles in Tait’s death. Cameron, 31, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a life sentence with no parole eligibility for 11 years. Morningchild, 32, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to 18 years in prison.

Bear, 23, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to five years, while Gamble, 25, got three years for being a party to an assault causing bodily harm.

Defence lawyer Brady Knight said his client grew up on the Thunderchild First Nation. When he was 11 years old, he moved in with his brother and helped care for his brother’s kids. After moving back to live with his father in North Battleford, he quickly became involved in drugs, alcohol and gang life, which has fuelled most of the offences on his criminal record, Knight said.

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He told court he doesn’t believe his client considered the consequences of his actions the day he shot Tait.

“There’s still something that Mr. Jimmy can contribute to society, and to be able to eventually one day be there for, at the very least, his own children, so that he can hopefully help break this absolutely devastating cycle of poverty and violence and addictions that too often ring through these courtroom walls,” Knight said.

“Things like this happening are not just a black mark on you, they’re a black mark on your people, and that is an awful thing because you have a wonderful people,” Danyliuk told Jimmy.

Tait’s mother wasn’t in court for Jimmy’s sentencing. She attended Cameron and Morningchild’s hearing, and said her son must have been so scared as he died alone on the side of a road.

“I feel guilt, anger, confused but mostly loneliness,” Crystal Tait wrote in her victim impact statement.

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