LA LOCHE SHOOTINGS
Appeal court panel agrees judge in murder trial made right decision
Court denies appeal of sentence
Saying the sentencing judge applied a “principled approach to analyzing the evidence,” a panel of Saskatchewan judges have dismissed the appeal of an adult sentence by the La Loche school shooter.
The 2-1 decision was released on Thursday, six months after a hearing at the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal in Regina. The shooter was appealing the adult sentence imposed on him after he killed four people and injured seven others on Jan. 22, 2016.
He still cannot be identified, however, because there is a 60-day period during which he can appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
La Loche Mayor Robert St. Pierre said he was “quite pleased” the province’s appeal court upheld the trial judge’s decision in a case that has weighed on the community for almost four years.
“The severity of the crime that he committed and the impact that it has on our community certainly warrants an adult sentence,” St. Pierre said.
The shooter was 17 when he went on a shooting spree in La Loche. More than two years later, in February 2018, he was sentenced as an adult for two counts of first-degree murder, two counts of second-degree murder and seven counts of attempted murder and given a life sentence with no chance of parole for 10 years — the maximum for a youth sentenced as an adult.
Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the ban on publishing his identity was to be lifted when he was sentenced as an adult, but the judge granted an extension until an appeal was resolved.
The shooter’s lawyer, Aaron Fox, said he was “disappointed” by the appeal court’s decision. At the same time, Fox said he has yet to consult his client or his client’s family about what’s next.
“Obviously, the decision has to be made as to where this is going to go. I expect sometime in the next couple of weeks that decision will be made,” Fox said.
The first people to die on Jan. 22, 2016 were brothers — 17-year-old Dayne Fontaine and 13-year-old Drayden Fontaine — shot in their home before the shooter went to the La Loche Community School and opened fire. Teacher’s aide Marie Janvier and teacher Adam Wood were then killed at the school.
The shooter has never said what drove him to go on the rampage. He has denied being bullied, said he had never felt wronged by the school and that he didn’t have any targets in mind when he went to the school with a gun.
A sentencing hearing in 2017 painted a picture of the shooter as a quiet teen who struggled in school.
Experts said he had cognitive challenges, but could not definitively say if he had a mental disorder.
In the appeal, the shooter argued the judge had erred in determining he should be sentenced as an adult. Fox argued the judge failed to apply evidence about the shooter’s cognitive ability, his apparent Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD) and Gladue factors, which address the background of Indigenous offenders.
Fox also said the judge was wrong not to issue a recommendation for the shooter to be considered for an intensive rehabilitation custody and supervision (IRCS) order — a provision under the Youth Criminal Justice Act which allows for youth suffering from mental illness or disorder and who are convicted of murder, attempted murder, manslaughter or aggravated sexual assault to have access to specialized therapeutic programs and services.
In Thursday’s written decision, the majority said the sentencing judge “grappled openly” with the issues of the shooter’s cognitive and mental health issues.
“The decision as a whole reveals a full analysis of all the relevant issues, a grappling with conflicting evidence and a principled approach to analyzing the evidence within the proper legal framework,” Justice Jerome Tholl remarked in a written decision that was seconded by Chief Justice Robert Richards.
Because an IRCS order can only be applied to youth, it could not have been imposed, the decision says.
In the dissenting opinion, Justice Georgina Jackson agreed with Tholl and Robert that the sentencing judge “did not err when she concluded that an IRCS sentence is not available.” Having said that, Jackson wrote, “he will need intensive treatment.” Jackson recommended a sentence of 10 years as of the date of the shooter’s sentencing in provincial court and a “1:1 credit for the time he has spent in federal custody.” Jackson also recommended that the shooter serve his time in the Regional Psychiatric Centre.
Fox acknowledged the “strong dissenting decision” by Jackson, and expressed frustration that the shooter, since entering a guilty plea in October 2016, has been in a federal penitentiary not receiving the rehabilitation he needs.
St. Pierre said he believes the appeal court’s decision will help the northern community move forward.
“It was a thought-out plan. He carried out the plan. He had a lot of opportunity not to follow through,” St. Pierre said. “But he chose to continue and he made that decision, and we’re still feeling the ramifications of those decisions that he made, and we’ll continue to carry that in our community.”