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One of four men charged in the killing of a Calgary man whose body was found in his burned-out house, pleaded guilty Friday to a reduced charge of second-degree murder.

Justin Urban, 35, had been charged with first-degree murder in the February 2022 death of Douglasdale resident Chad Kowalchuk, but Crown prosecutor Shane Parker agreed to a plea to the lesser offence.

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At Parker’s request, Justice Rosemary Nation granted a publication ban on both the agreed facts he read in and victim impact statements from relatives of Kowalchuk in light of the fact three co-accused are set to face a jury trial later this year.

The body of Kowalchuk, 53, was found Feb. 18, 2022, inside his Douglas Ridge Green S.E. home.

Police indicated it was believed he was killed five days earlier.

Parker, in seeking a period of parole ineligibility of 17 years on Urban’s automatic life sentence, said there were multiple aggravating factors justifying an increase from the mandatory minimum of 10 years.

Among those are a lengthy prior criminal record, he told Nation.

The prosecutor said Urban had 57 previous convictions since 2011, with his last one being for a break and enter.

“Not deterred, Mr. Urban moved up the criminal ladder,” Parker said, of his involvement in Kowalchuk’s death.

As Parker read in the facts agreed to by the offender and defence counsel Jim Lutz, and as several victim impact statements were read in the Calgary Court of King’s Bench hearing, Urban sat still in the prisoner’s box, his head tilted appearing to attentively listen.

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He showed no outward emotion as the victim’s family members comments were read into the record.

In April 2022, after the first of the four suspects was arrested, Kowalchuk’s sister-in-law, Jacquie told Postmedia the family was frustrated at the lack of answers they were getting about his killing.

“We have so many questions from the family side of it,” she said at the time.

She said she and her husband Dean, the dead man’s brother, had become estranged from him over the previous few years and feared he had returned to a prior drug lifestyle.

On Friday, the family members got some answers, although what they learned Friday is covered by the publication ban.

They also got an apology from Urban.

“I can’t imagine the impact on your guy’s lives and for that I’m sorry and I truly mean all that.”

Three others, Justin Angus Boucher, Ronald Lee Abraham and Robert Wayne Sims, are scheduled to face a five-week jury trial beginning Oct. 7.

Nation handed Urban an automatic life sentence and set parole ineligibility at 16 years. She accepted a request from Lutz that she recommend correctional services consider sending Urban to Millhaven Penitentiary in Kingston, Ont., to serve his sentence.

KMartin@postmedia.com

X: @KMartinCourts

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