A Sherwood Park, Alta., man was sentenced Thursday in a botched contract killing in Calgary that left a woman dead and her husband, who was the intended target, seriously injured. Michael Tyrel Arnold was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 18 years in the second-degree murder of Nakita Baron and 16 years in prison to be served concurrently for the attempted murder of Talal Fouani. The couple were shot at close range in the morning of Aug. 18, 2022 while backing out of their driveway in Everwood Court S.W. Video of the attack from a neighbouring home in the cul-de-sac shows Arnold approach the pair’s Bentley disguised in construction gear and walking a dog. Fouani, in the driver’s seat, stops the vehicle, unwinds and then Arnold fires two shots. Baron was hit in the chest and died, while Fouani was shot in the face and survived. He continues to suffer from neurological damage and scarring. Court heard Arnold was hired by an unidentified third party to kill Fouani who had been charged prior to the shooting in a money laundering investigation. He didn’t know Baron was in the vehicle at the time. Arnold was arrested roughly a week later in Edmonton. As second-degree murder comes with an automatic life sentence, Justice Nancy Carruthers said she weighed several factors in determining parole eligibility, including the degree of planning involved in a contract killing scheme. Court heard Arnold surveyed the home for several weeks and even followed the Bentley at times leading up to the attack. He also waited for seven hours in a vehicle nearby between 1:56 a.m. and 8:15 a.m. before carrying out the shooting. “It’s something that we want to ensure that communities understand that this is taken very seriously and that when someone is hired to kill somebody there’s a strong denunciatory message and we believe that has been sent by the court,” said Crown prosecutor Gregory Whiteside following the decision. “We’re still digesting that decision in part but we’re hopeful that it gives closure to the process.” Fouani was in court Thursday for the decision, alongside other family members. Carruthers referenced that the impact to Fouani having to watch his wife take her last breath, and to Baron’s mother and father who “wakes up every morning thinking of his daughter in a body bag.” Carruthers also took into account Arnold’s lengthy criminal record that Arnold “possesses an elevated risk to society”, including 12 convictions as a youth and 15 as an adult, including robbery and drug trafficking offenses. However, she noted he expressed genuine remorse and apologized to the victims’ families as mitigating factors and hope for rehabilitation. Arnold was given roughly three years credit for the time he has served in custody since his arrest in 2022.
