More delays in Hills’ sentencing

MAN FIRED BULLETS IN WESTSIDE NEIGHBOURHOOD FOUR YEARS AGO

A former Lethbridge man who fired bullets into a westside home four years ago may not be sentenced for several more months.

Jesse Dallas Hills was scheduled for a sentencing hearing Monday in Lethbridge Court of Queen’s Bench, but his lawyer said he needs more time to work with a firearms expert in relation to his challenge of Canada’s gun legislation.

Lethbridge lawyer Greg White is challenging the gun legislation that requires a four-year minimum sentence for certain firearms offences. That minimum, White argues, amounts to cruel and unusual punishment in some circumstances.

Court expected to hear final sentencing arguments by the Crown and defence Monday, but the hearing was adjourned for nearly two months for White to meet with his expert and file his findings with the Crown. The expert, White added, is not available until June.

Justice Rodney A. Jerke said during a previous hearing he doesn’t consider the minimum sentence to be grossly disproportionate in Hills’ case, but he wants to hear additional arguments on how it may be grossly disproportionate in other circumstances. His ruling could have an impact on the sentence Hills receives, even though the Crown is seeking a prison term of four to five years, regardless of the mandatory minimum.

Hills pleaded guilty Nov. 28, 2016 to single charges of discharging a firearm into a home with reckless disregard, pointing a firearm, unauthorized possession of a firearm and mischief causing damage under $5,000.

Although he doesn’t remember the incident, Hills agreed that about midnight May 6, 2014 he loaded a .303 rifle and, with a baseball bat, walked around the neighbourhoods of Mount Rundle Way and Mount Rundle Road West.

A man had just climbed into his car after attending a nearby house party when he saw Hills run toward his car with a bat. Hills also dropped to one knee and fired a rifle in the man’s direction.

Shortly afterward Hills walked up a residential driveway and fired three rounds into the home. One bullet smashed through the living room window and went through an interior wall into a computer room occupied by the homeowner. The homeowner, who saw Hills standing in his driveway with the rifle, awakened his wife in their bedroom then hit the alarm on his security system. They ran to the basement and called 911. Police arrived shortly afterward and arrested Hills.

Court was told during a hearing last November that Hills was on strong pain medication for an injured back and, during a barbecue, had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol. He has no memory of the incidents, and only recalls going to bed and waking later in the day in a police cell.

The case is back in court at the end of June, but likely just to hear schedule a new date for sentencing. That date, Jerke suggested, likely won’t be until late summer or the fall.

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