Mitchell Brooks has sentenced himself to a "desolate life without his family" but the victim's brothers say the jury came to the "logical outcome."
After a day-and-half of deliberations, a Barrie jury found Brooks not guilty of murder but guilty of manslaughter in the May 24, 2013 shooting of his wife Deena as they struggled over a gun.
The mother of two grown girls died of a single gunshot wound to the chest in the front foyer of the couple's New Lowell home.
Deena's brothers attended the trial this week to hear the closing arguments and the judge's charge to the jury.
School teacher Mike Balser travelled from British Columbia and Eric Balser, a doctor who had previously testified at the trial, returned from Nova Scotia.
"It's a terrible tragedy. It's a horrible thing," said Mike.
Both brothers expected and agreed with the manslaughter verdict.
"It was an accident the way it unfolded but obviously he had unregistered weapons. He was using them in an unlawful manner so manslaughter was the logical outcome. I don't think it was premeditated. I think it was just a complete mess."
"He never woke up that day and said I think I'm going to kill my wife today," he added.
"My only question remains if his intention was suicide I wonder why he's still alive, having had five shells left in his gun," Eric said. "I'm not going to lose sleep over that question."
Defence lawyer Kim Miles said it was a relief for Brooks to have a decision.
"From our perspective throughout this case, this was an accidental death," said Miles. "Now hopefully he'll be able to take that decision, move forward and be able to grieve the loss of his wife that he's not been able to do up until now."
A sentencing date has been set for April 25.
Jail terms for manslaughter can range from no jail to life in prison.
"He's sentenced himself to a life without his family, without the one person that could love him," said Mike. "Whatever sentence he gets, it's not really going to matter. It's going to have a huge impact on him. The future he's going to have is going to be so desolate for him and really, really unfortunate. But again - he brought it on himself."
The crown had argued at trial that Brooks had intended to kill Deena after she told him she wanted a divorce.
Brooks insisted he only wanted to kill himself.
Eric thanked the investigators, emergency responders and the jury.
As they stood in the cold wind outside the courthouse, Deena's brothers said people should know their sister was an "incredibly strong-willed, positive person."
"She devoted herself to her family," Eric said. "She was extremely happy to help anyone, particularly her children."
"I miss her a lot," said Mike, choking up. "That's what they need to know about Deena."
