Conditional sentence, time served for child luring conviction
A 24-year-old city man found guilty of child luring by a city jury earlier this year was handed a three-month conditional sentence Tuesday at Medicine Hat Court of Queen’s Bench.
Matthew Ronald Mayo, 24, was charged in 2011 in connection with the offence and found guilty following his seven-day jury trial in April.
The jury found Mayo not guilty on a half-dozen sexual assault-related charges involving two youth under the age of 14 in January 2011 when he was 19-years-old.
Defence lawyer Krysia Przepiorka successfully argued to the seven-man, five-woman jury that Mayo was under the impression the girls were in fact older, albeit mistakenly.
In sentencing Mayo to a conditional sentence, Madam Justice Karen Horner indicated the man is, “not a threat to the community,” later characterizing the circumstances of the case as “mild.”
However, Horner rejected the defence argument for a conditional discharge for Mayo, highlighting the primary focus of sentencing on child luring charges is deterrence and denunciation.
Mayo was sentenced to a three-month conditional sentence but given credit for two months of pre-trial custody. The remainder of his sentence will be served through house arrest with exceptions.
He was also ordered to provide a DNA sample and will be listed on the sex offender registry for 10 years.
Home invasion sentencing adjourned
A man found guilty by a Queen’s Bench justice in February had his sentencing adjourned at the last minute Tuesday.
Cory Ryan Arts, 27, was convicted of the Jan. 2 2014 assault causing bodily harm, break and enter and unlawful confinement against his apartment building neighbour. The court heard the neighbour was able to escape the situation after receiving help from two teen girls.
On Tuesday, the sentencing was adjourned following the Crown not having access to the defence’s sentencing brief until just before the hearing.
The court heard defence lawyer Jack Kelly intends to argue his client’s Charter rights were violated through non-disclosure of evidence at trial.
A new sentencing date has not been scheduled, though Madam Justice Horner indicated it will be held in Calgary.