3rd man pleads guilty in 2022 shooting death of Moncton teen

A third person has pleaded guilty in connection with the 2022 shooting death of an 18-year-old man in Moncton.

Nicholas Joseph James McAvoy, 25, was among six people charged after the April 25, 2022, death of JoedinLloydLeger.

McAvoychanged his plea to guilty on a manslaughter charge Tuesday afternoon during an appearance in Moncton's Court of King's Bench.

"I accept your plea of guilty to the plea of manslaughter and enter a conviction,"Justice Jean-Paul Ouellette said to McAvoy, who stood wearing a blue dress shirtin the prisoner's box alongside court sheriffs.

Leger's parents and his partner were in court for the plea. They declined to comment while leavingthe courthouse.

The details of what McAvoy admits cannot be reported because of a publication ban imposed by Ouellette.Crown prosecutor Martine Cormier requested the ban because the others charged are scheduled to be tried by a jury in the fall.

Last year, one of the other five men pleadedguilty to manslaughter. That man cannot be named because he was under 18 at the time of Leger's death.With credit for time spent in custody before sentencing, the man was able to walk out of court without further jail time.

Hayden LeBlanc, another of the six charged, pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year.

LeBlanc and McAvoy are scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 22 and both remain in custody.

LeBlanc was previously set to be sentenced June 4, but Ouellette rescheduled it Tuesday.

Ouellette questioned the time between McAvoy's plea and sentencing, but Crown and defence lawyer James Mathesonsaid it was the date they would be available.

"It's very unusual, but we'll hear it at Aug. 22," Ouellette said.

Matheson said there will be a joint sentence recommendation, but neither Crown nor defence lawyers said Tuesday what the recommendation will be.

The judge ordered a pre-sentence report about McAvoy be prepared ahead of sentencing and victim impact statements gathered.

The six werecharged in 2022 with first-degree murder, a homicide that is planned and deliberate.

However, the charges against five of them were reduced to manslaughter after a preliminary inquiry. Those hearings are held to test the Crown's evidence.

Manslaughter is a homicide that'scommitted without intent, though there may have been an intention to cause harm.

One man, Riley Phillips, still faces a second-degree murder charge.