Dangerous offender status upheld for convicted torturer

Alberta’s top court on Tuesday refused to overturn the indeterminate sentence given to dangerous offender Dustin Paxton, agreeing with his trial judge that he poses too great of a risk to the public.

The three-member Court of Appeal panel agreed with then-Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sheilah Martin that a set sentence for Paxton wouldn’t adequately protect society.

Martin — who has since been promoted twice, once to the Alberta Court of Appeal and more recently to the Supreme Court — ruled in December 2013 that Paxton’s risk was too great to not declare him a dangerous offender.

She handed Paxton an indeterminate term, which is equivalent to a life sentence.

Paxton would be eligible to apply for parole after seven years, but as long as he remains a danger he cannot be released.

Few dangerous offenders serving indeterminate sentences are granted release.

Defence counsel Alias Sanders had argued Martin erred by using the wrong test to conclude Paxton’s behaviour could not be controlled with a lesser sentence.

But the appeal judges said that while Martin relied on an incorrect presumption for the test of determining an indeterminate sentence, “she thoroughly reviewed all ... sentencing options, in light of the evidence, before concluding that an indeterminate sentence was warranted.

“She conducted her analysis in the context of the general principles of sentencing and mindful of the need to adequately protect the public,” they said in a written decision.

“She concluded that a conventional determinate sentence would not protect the public or benefit the appellant. That conclusion is unassailable on this record.”

They noted Martin rejected two defence experts who suggested Paxton’s risk could be managed.

“She concluded that from the vantage point of the legal standard, their opinions contained so many qualifications that they amounted to nothing more than a possibility of eventual control, not a reasonable possibility of eventual control,” the appeal judges said, in agreeing with Crown prosecutor Sarah Clive that the sentence should stand.

“She found these experts’ opinions to be hopeful rather than realistic or reasonable.”

Martin declared Paxton a dangerous offender in December 2013 after convicting him of four charges in February 2012, including sexual assault and aggravated assault on his former roommate.

“Given Mr. Paxton’s brutal conduct, the court will not gamble with the public’s safety,” Martin said when handing down her sentence.

In convicting Paxton of brutalizing his roommate, who can’t be identified, Martin found that although Paxton didn’t expressly request sexual favours from the victim, she believed the man’s testimony that he performed sexual favours to avoid further vicious physical abuse.

“In essence, (Paxton) used sex as a further weapon of assault,” Martin said in her Feb. 6, 2012, conviction decision.