Indian Posse co-founder looking at more prison time for assaults

Defence lawyer Kim Stinson told the court he’s been a lawyer for many years, and rarely has a report on a client’s life brought him to tears.

“I see somebody that, but for a past that none of us should have to have had, may have been a leader ...,” Stinson said of 40-year-old Richard Daniel Wolfe. “He had some of those qualities earlier on. They didn’t manifest themselves in the way that we would like to see. They manifested themselves in a hurtful way and a painful way, and that’s where the gang life came from. But can we expect any different with what he had to guide him?”

A Gladue report, examining Wolfe’s dark and deeply troubled history, was prepared for his sentencing on charges of sexual assault and assault with a weapon that sprang from an April 6, 2014 incident in Fort Qu’Appelle.

The report delved into Wolfe’s childhood, which was riddled with abuse, hunger, poverty and abandonment. In his teens, Wolfe’s leadership skills exhibited themselves through the formation of the Indian Posse — created alongside brother Daniel Wolfe, who would later come to a tragic end in prison.

Stinson referred to the Gladue report as a “primer of how a gang comes into being,” explaining that Wolfe intended to use the Indian Posse as a refuge for others with a similar background. Stinson said Wolfe left gang life once he saw what it had turned into, and has since worked to educate young people about the dangers of that lifestyle.

While Crown prosecutor Adam Breker said it’s certainly true that Wolfe’s background is tragic, there is no excuse for his having turned his pain on others.

“Mr. Wolfe isn’t the only one who didn’t get out unscathed,” Breker said.

Court heard Wolfe was on statutory

I see somebody that, but for a past that none of us should have to have had, may have been a leader ...,

release from a two-decadelong sentence for attempted murder when he committed the offences currently before the court, attacking the couple with which he’d been staying.

Wolfe had been in the community at that point for 3½ years with no issues, but that ended following a get-together that involved drinking. The woman went to bed, but awoke about 6 a.m. with Wolfe atop her, trying to initiate sex. Court heard her cries for help awoke her boyfriend, who was sleeping on a sofa elsewhere in the house.

The woman was able to run from the house when her boyfriend confronted Wolfe. Wolfe grabbed a baseball bat and struck the other man well over 30 times on the head and body before the ongoing confrontation drove Wolfe from the house. Wolfe turned himself in to police two days later.

Court heard the male victim suffered significant injuries including nerve damage, migraine headaches and difficulties walking.

Breker urged Queen’s Bench Justice Lian Schwann to impose a 10year sentence, pointing to the seriousness of the offences and Wolfe’s significant criminal history.

But Stinson asked Schwann to consider imposing just 3½ years, asking her to keep in mind the background that led to Wolfe’s criminal lifestyle.

Both proposed sentences would begin once Wolfe’s current sentence — set to expire near the end of 2017 — is completed.

Schwann reserved her decision to Jan. 8.