FROG LAKE– Darren Rain Moocheweines of Frog Lake First Nation will face the prison term he was first sentenced to in January for the death of 28-year-old Joey Benjiman that occurred in December of 2018.
Moocheweines’ legal counsel appealed the manslaughter sentence on Jan. 25, 2022, the same day he was convicted and was handed down a six-year prison sentence.
Prior to his sentencing, RCMP distributed a warrant for Moocheweines’ arrest on Aug. 5, 2021, stating that the 27-year-old had failed to comply with conditions of a judicial release and was reported to be unlawfully at large.
Moocheweines was located by police at Loon Lake three days later and remanded in custody until his trial for the 2018 death.
The appeal
Moocheweines’ appeal was heard in an Edmonton courtroom on the morning of Oct. 18 and was presided over by three justices from the Alberta Court of Appeal.
The following day a Memorandum of Judgment was delivered from the Bench, the Frog Lake man’s appeal was denied.
The reasons for the applications dismissal included that “The sentence under appeal is not demonstrably unfit nor the product of an error in principle,” and that “It is a lenient sentence.”
The appellant’s initial sentencing will stand.
Moocheweines was initially charged with second-degree murder after Benjiman was found unresponsive at a home in Frog Lake on Dec. 22, 2018.
Elk Point RCMP had responded to a disturbance call at the residence at about 9 p.m. on that Saturday evening.
Once they arrived, officers reported locating the victim who was later declared deceased by paramedics.
An investigation by the RCMP Major Crimes Unit resulted in charges being laid against Moocheweines two days later. No additional suspects were ever sought in the matter.
The cause of the victim's death was never reported publicly.
