EDMONTON -- An Edmonton dope dealer who shot a fellow dealer in the back in a drug deal gone bad was handed a 13-year prison term yesterday after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

However, the sentence wasn't high enough for the mother of the victim, who said she "doesn't buy" the killer's story that he discharged his gun after tripping on some ice and without knowing exactly where the victim was.

"I'm not happy with the sentence," said Nadia Kelm, adding she also doesn't accept the killer's remorse.

James Harold Stewart, known to his friends and associates by his street name, "F...ker," had been charged with first-degree murder, but was allowed to plead guilty to the lesser and included offence of manslaughter.

According to agreed facts, Stewart, 31, had agreed to meet David "Leb" Kelm, 21, on Jan. 19, 2007, at a trailer park in Sherwood Park to sell him methamphetamine.

As the pair walked to the location of the drug deal, a disagreement arose and Kelm pulled out a pocket knife.

At some point during the disagreement, Stewart slipped on some ice and fell and, as he got back up, he discharged the handgun once, resulting in a small-calibre bullet going through Kelm's back and into a lung and his heart.

Court heard autopsy results were consistent with the bullet being fired from a distance of at least a metre away.

A person who drove with Stewart to the meet told police the killer was armed with a gun in the vehicle and had said he was going to "beat this guy up a little bit."

Stewart, who had been under three orders prohibiting him from possessing firearms at the time of the killing, was arrested in a Penticton, B.C. motel on Feb. 8, 2007.

Court of Queen's Bench Justice Donna Read accepted a joint submission for a 13-year prison sentence and gave Stewart, a former magician, clown and tattoo artist, 64 months' credit for the 32 months he spent in pretrial custody, leaving him with seven years, eight months to serve.