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Pearl Benson of Red Pheasant Cree Nation is shown in this undated photo. A Toronto man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of manslaughter with a firearm in Benson’s 2024 death in North Battleford. (Image Credit: Eternal Memories Funeral Service and Crematorium)
By battlefordsNOW staff
CRIME

Toronto man gets 15-year sentence in killing of Red Pheasant Cree Nation woman

May 15, 2026 | 4:19 PM

More than a year after Pearl Benson was found critically injured outside a North Battleford business, the case has ended with a lengthy federal prison sentence for the young Toronto man convicted in her death.

Billy Marcus Leon, 22, was sentenced April 27 in North Battleford provincial court after being convicted of manslaughter in the Oct. 16, 2024 killing of Benson, a member of Red Pheasant Cree Nation.

Judge Michelle Baldwin sentenced Leon to 5,480 days in custody, equal to 15 years, with 557 days credited for time already spent in pre-sentence custody. That leaves about 13 years and 6 months remaining to be served in a federal penitentiary.

Court documents show Leon shot Benson with a handgun near 101st Street. He had originally been charged with second-degree murder following the RCMP investigation.

The sentencing documents indicate the matter proceeded as a joint submission between Crown and defence.

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Leon was also handed a lifetime firearms prohibition and ordered to provide a DNA sample as part of a primary designated offence order. The court additionally ordered the forfeiture of a black handgun and ammunition connected to the case.

RCMP previously said officers were called around 10:30 p.m. on Oct. 16, 2024 after reports a person had been seriously injured outside a business in North Battleford.

Police found Benson injured at the scene. She later died in hospital.

Leon was arrested in April 2025 at a correctional centre in Manitoba.

—

Kenneth.Cheung@pattisonmedia.com

by battlefordsNOW staff

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