Virus should limit sentence for millionaire, lawyer to argue

The lawyer for convicted stalker and Calgary millionaire Ken Carter has a new weapon in his bid to have his client’s potential sentence reduced — the effect COVID-19 might have on him if he’s jailed.

Defence counsel Gavin Wolch appeared in Court of Queen’s Bench on Thursday to schedule a date for further sentencing arguments in his client’s police corruption case.

Wolch earlier said his client’s health concerns, which kept him in Russia for months and had him miss an earlier sentencing decision, should be a factor for Justice Glen Poelman to consider in determining an appropriate sentence.

“Just to be candid, my argument has evolved a little bit,” Wolch told Poelman, as he and Crown prosecutor Katherine Love appeared in court via video link.

Wolch agreed with Love it would be prudent for him to file a notice of what issues he will be raising to potentially mitigate the sentence Carter would have received had he been sentenced as scheduled on June 12, 2019.

On that day, Wolch showed up in court to say that Carter had been hospitalized in Russia and could not at that time return to Canada.

He eventually did come back in December, and was briefly held in custody until his release.

Carter’s sentencing since then has been delayed as his lawyer worked to get medical documentation from Russia to establish his client’s health concerns and how they might affect him going to jail.

Carter, who was convicted of paying current and former Calgary police officers to conduct intense surveillance of his ex-girlfriend, Akele Taylor, during a child-custody dispute, was to face a new sentencing hearing April 1.

Carter was not present for Thursday’s proceeding, but Poelman said he should attend in person on July 30.