Judge rejects bid to lessen sentence for killer’s accomplice
Man who encouraged double murderer ordered to serve a minimum four years
The Calgary man who encouraged a double-murderer to carry out his deadly plot will face a minimum four years in prison, a judge ruled Thursday.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Earl Wilson said he will not hear arguments from lawyer Brian Beresh that the legislation amounts to cruel and unusual punishment in violation of Blais Delaire’s Charter rights.
Beresh said he wanted to argue that Delaire, as an abettor to Christian Ouellette’s crimes, wasn’t as responsible as a principal offender and the mandatory minimum for manslaughter with a firearm was unconstitutional.
But Wilson said the Supreme Court had already dealt with the issue, ironically in a case in which the judge was the defence counsel.
Wilson initially successfully argued the mandatory minimum shouldn’t have been applied to Mountie Mike Ferguson, who fatally shot a prisoner in a Pincher Creek
RCMP detachment cell in 1999.
But both the Alberta Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court said it did.
Beresh suggested Delaire was different because he didn’t actually shoot Colin Reitberger, who along with Anees Amr was gunned down by Ouellette in a Real Canadian Superstore parking lot on May 21, 2017.
“We could find no case that dealt with a pure abettor under this section (of the Criminal Code),” Beresh said. “Someone who abets, as you found Mr. Delaire.”
Beresh said Delaire, who remains free on bail pending sentencing for manslaughter with a firearm in Reitberger’s killing, didn’t have the same level of responsibility as the Mountie. “Ferguson, as you know, was a principal offender, the law in relation to a party and the constitutionality is a far different issue,” he said.
Beresh asked that Wilson set down a one-day hearing for arguments on the issue, but the judge declined.
“I disagree with your analysis of the law,” the judge said.
“Whether a person is a principal or an aider or an abettor is just simply the route on which one determines whether an individual accused had been convicted of an offence. I’m satisfied that the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Regina versus Ferguson would apply here.”
He said if he’s wrong, the Alberta Court of Appeal can correct him.
Wilson will hear sentencing submissions from Beresh and Crown prosecutor Katherine Love on Aug. 20.
Before the case was adjourned until then, Reitberger’s mother, Jodi, asked the judge to reconsider Delaire remaining on bail. “I’m just really concerned with why he still remains out on bail,” the mother said from the courtroom gallery, before the judge interrupted her.
“I’m not here to offer advice or information in that regard,” Wilson said.
“I’ve made a decision. We speak to our decisions, we don’t engage in a dialogue to assist people in perhaps having a better understanding. That’s just not what we do.”