Outside the Yukon Courts building in downtown Whitehorse. Photo Courtesy of Macklen Linke/CKRW.
Whitehorse, YT – A Yukon Supreme Court judge has sentenced 24-year-old B.C. man, Seth Boss to nine years in prison for the 2022 manslaughter of Anthony Primozic in Haines Junction.
Boss now has roughly three years and seven months remaining to serve behind bars, with credit for time already served in pre-trial custody.
The sentencing concluded a high-profile case stemming from a fatal encounter on March 9, 2022.
Boss, visiting from Lower Post, British Columbia, was in the Haines Junction area to see relatives on March 8th, 2022 when he ran into Anthony Primozic, a past acquaintance. He was later invited into Primozic’s home where the attack occurred inside Primozic’s bedroom in the early hours of March 9th. Boss was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in 2023.
Following a trial in April of this year, Chief Justice Suzanne Duncan found Boss guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter, rather than second-degree murder, ruling that extreme intoxication prevented him from forming the intent required for a murder conviction.
During a September 17th, 2026 hearing in Whitehorse, Justice Duncan cited the brutal nature of the attack inside Primozic’s home as well as the profound impact on the victim’s family and the community. She also weighed mitigating factors, including Boss’s lack of a criminal record, genuine remorse, steps taken toward rehabilitation and his background involving intergenerational trauma as a Daylu Dena Council member.
The decision followed days of emotional testimony, with the court receiving a total of 52 victim and community impact statements remembering Anthony Primozic as a respected First Nations citizen, skilled mechanic, and protector. Tensions briefly flared in the courtroom as the sentence was handed down, highlighting the deep grief still felt by the victim’s family and the community.
