GUILTY Canada - Johnathon Madden, 12, hacked to death, Toronto, 25 Nov 2003

In it, all three teens could be heard discussing a plot to ambush and kill Johnathan and his entire family.

Less than an hour after that conversation took place, Johnathan was dead.

Police found the slight Grade 7 student stuffed in a basement crawl space of his east-end Toronto home with 71 wounds.

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The third teen, Johnathan's older brother, who said he alone killed the family's favoured son in a violent rage, appeared to show no emotion as the jury handed him a first-degree murder conviction.

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Since Johnathan's brother admitted killing his sibling, jurors had to decide whether the murder was a premeditated execution or a spur of the moment act committed by a "profoundly disturbed boy" who suffers from intermittent explosive disorder.

At trial, a defence psychologist conceded the now-19-year-old could still plan a murder even if he exploded into uncontrolled violent rages.

His lawyer, Robert Nuttall, said he will ask that his client be sentenced as a youth, which carries a 10-year maximum sentence -- instead of 25 years if he is sentenced as an adult.

"My client admitted his responsibility from day one.... He didn't try to blame anybody else," the lawyer said. "The next step is for him to get the help he needs."

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McCombs said because Kevin showed little remorse for the murder and continues to deny responsibility for it, he sentencedthe teen to life imprisonment with no chance of parole for 10 years.

The teen will serve the first two years in a youth facility, then be transferred to an adult facility...

Ferriman faces two years in prison less a day, followed by three years probation. McCombs said Ferriman's prison term will be served in a youth facility because the teen showed remorse for his actions.

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