Sentencing on hold for claim of lineage

Man surprises court stating mother is native

Just when he was supposed to be sentenced for a violent jewelry store heist, Wallace Piercey surprised everyone with a branch on his family tree.

Piercey’s mother is Cherokee, he told the judge — a family factoid he hadn’t told his defence lawyer, the Crown or the probation officer who wrote his pre- sentence report.

That l i tt l e detail was enough to require a so-called Gladue report, a specialized pre- sentence report for indigenous people.

And waiting for the report could delay his sentencing for months. Ontario Court Justice Michael O’Dea couldn’t hide his skepticism about why Piercey had exercised his Gladue rights, suggesting the longer the sentencing takes, the less time Piercey will have left to serve since time spent in custody before sentencing counts heavier than afterward.

“I have to be quite blunt,” O’Dea said.

“Having regard to the presentence report that I read, I find it just incredible that the system can go this long without the accused identi- fying his mother’s status.

“My suspicion is he’s hoping that by the time he gets to sentencing, his pretrial custody will cover it.”

The judge questioned how such a detail could escape notice before.

“He’s been assessed by a probation officer. He never mentioned it before. What is his connection to his native culture?” O’Dea asked.

Piercey is facing a hefty sentence after pleading guilty in June to robbery, assault causing bodily harm and forcible confinement for a Feb. 1 robbery.

While the facts of the case still need to be presented in court, the police said at the time of the robbery that a store employee was punched in the face before the robber jumped the counter. He continued to assault her, then tied her arms and legs up with zip- ties and put duct tape over her mouth.

A c ustomer, a nother woman, entered the store and was assaulted, then pushed into a back room. She escaped and called the police, but not before the robber had scooped up his loot and left.

The Gladue law, named after a Supreme Court of Canada case, is clear. Aboriginal offenders are entitled to a report that explores their connection to First Nations society and the systemic factors of discrimination and racism such as residential schools, physical or sexual abuse, displacement and addiction.

The law aims to address the over- representation of indigenous people in the criminal justice system and gives judges some discretion in sentencing.

Assistant Crown attorney Lisa Defoe said she was concerned that if the sentencing had gone ahead Wednesday, it would be easily appealed because his rights weren’t recognized.

“The Crown is not in a position to oppose,” she said.

The court heard it would take six weeks to get a report finished.

However, this week, St. Thomas, Ont., defence lawyer Keli Mersereau, a vicepresident with the Criminal Lawyers’ Association, said wait times for Gladue reports in London, Ont., are at least three months.

Should Piercey’s report take that l ong, his extra three months in jail translates into four- and- a- half months off his sentence.

And, if his sentencing doesn’t happen until February, a year after a robbery, he can expect a credit of 18 months off his sentence.

O’Dea said t he lastminute adjournment was another example of how the justice system falls apart so quickly while the victims, who weren’t in court, “want to get on with their life. “

He ordered the case return to court on Oct. 18 to get an update on the timeline for the report.

“This is will be the last adjournment,” he said.

WHAT IS HIS CONNECTION TO HIS NATIVE CULTURE?