Crack, gun seizure leads to 4-year term

Tip led to police raid on apartment

At 19.4 grams it was not the largest amount of crack cocaine police have ever seized, but the combination of drugs and two loaded handguns cost a 22-year-old Windsor man four years in prison.

Joshua Gillespie pleaded guilty and was sentenced Thursday to 3½ years more time, on top of the six months in pretrial custody he has already served.

Ontario Court Justice Micheline Rawlins agreed with the joint defence-Crown submission that four years was a fitting sentence.

Gillespie faced 18 charges — including possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of restricted firearms, and various breaches of court conditions — stemming from a police raid May 10, 2012.

Acting on a tip, Windsor police raided two addresses including Gillespie’s Sandwich Street apartment, where they found the contraband and subsequently arrested Gillespie, who wasn’t employed at the time and who has a criminal record.

“It’s not an insignificant sentence,” defence lawyer Maria Carroccia said outside court. “But based on his record, which is lengthy for a man his age, including a prior conviction for a weapon-related offence, and the combination of crack cocaine and loaded handguns, it was appropriate.”

The mandatory minimum sentence for drug offences in which a loaded firearm is used is three years.

Federal prosecutor Christine Malott and assistant Crown attorney Nicole Lamphier had earlier suggested four to 4½years for the guns alone plus time for drugs, Carroccia said, before the joint agreement was reached.

“It’s a long sentence for a young man of his age,” Carroccia said. “But he’s going to try to do what he can to make the time he has to spend in jail productive by taking advantage of whatever programs are available. Hopefully, when he is released on parole he will have a different outlook on life.”

Carroccia said her client has had a wake-up call and that he showed remorse through his guilty plea.

“I think he regrets his involvement,” she said. “His prior convictions led to short county jail sentences. They weren’t as serious as this offence, so I think this shook him up a bit.”