Gun charges trigger 3 1/2 years’ jail
There was no discount for Indigenous heritage Tuesday as a provincial court judge in Penticton sentenced high-profile criminal Steven Gallagher to a fresh 3 1/2 years in jail.
Gallagher, 31, was convicted at trial on three gun possession charges that arose in April 2021 on the Penticton Indian Reserve as police were investigating reports of shots being fired at random from a moving vehicle.
His lawyers sought a reduced sentence based on well-established factors that take into consideration the historical effects of colonization and residential schools that have led to the over incarceration of Indigenous people in Canadian jails.
Gallagher, a member of the Osoyoos Indian Band, doesn’t seem to fit the pattern though.
“Mr. Gallagher was never displaced from his family or community, but was well brought up by a multi-generational family who loved and supported him, and thoroughly immersed in full awareness and understanding of the cultural traditions of his people,” said Judge Shannon
Keyes in her decision.
“Further, I find he was very well-supported by his band as a young adult, even to the extent of giving him a nice house at the age of 24.”
The 3 1/2 years of new time was tacked on consecutive to a 45-month sentence Gallagher was handed in December 2023 for an unrelated case of arson in Oliver.
Gallagher’s lawyers recommended a 30-month sentence for the gun crimes and asked that it run concurrent to the 45-month term because, although the two sets of offences were separated by six weeks in time, they both occurred during a period when Gallagher was in active addiction and grieving the deaths of four loved ones he lost in short order.
Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band also made an appearance during the first day of Gallagher’s sentencing hearing in December 2023 to urge leniency for the father of four.
“I’ve known Steven all his life. He was participating in raising his kids. He has a nice house. With family support that house’s rent has been picked up…. He has a supportive system when he gets out. We have many programs and services, and we want Steven back,” said Louie. The judge wasn’t swayed by any of it.
“Mr. Gallagher was riding around in a populated community in possession of a prohibited handgun and a folding shotgun with another handgun in plain view in the vehicle. Mr. Gallagher has a previous conviction for possession of a firearm with readily accessible ammunition, as well as carrying a concealed weapon,” said Keyes.
“He’d been prohibited from possession of any firearms or ammunition for many years. While Mr. Gallagher has not been convicted of shooting those firearms on that day, the investigation began because of complaints from the community that shots were being fired from the vehicle as it drove through Penticton Indian Band lands on that day. It was only luck that no one was hurt.”
Earlier in the proceedings, Keyes also noted: “Handguns are not hunting rifles. There was no legitimate reason for anyone in that vehicle to possess a handgun.”
Gallagher -- who had about a dozen supporters, including his parents, in attendance at court Tuesday -- is still awaiting trial on a separate matter, which features three charges in connection with a non-fatal shooting July 1, 2022, in Osoyoos.
The arson charge for which Gallagher is currently serving time involved him breaking into the Remedy’s RX pharmacy on Fairview Road in Oliver and setting fire to the shop in May 2021.
It capped a wild night in Oliver during which police were called to Gallagher’s home to investigate a report of shots fired, and shots were subsequently fired into the Oliver RCMP detachment from a vehicle that had been parked at Gallagher’s home.
Gallagher was suspected to have pulled the trigger outside the police station, but wasn’t charged with doing so.