Local

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Teen killer to receive adult sentence

Youth act provisions aren't sufficient: judge

By: Mike McIntyre

Posted: 10/10/2012 1:00 AM

The Youth Criminal Justice Act has been found to be ill-equipped to properly deal with a Winnipeg teen who went on a robbery spree that ended with the death of a stranger.

Manitoba Queen's Bench Justice Jeffrey Oliphant ruled Tuesday the man, who was 17 at the time of the deadly July 2009 attack, will now be sentenced as an adult.

Oliphant said provisions of the YCJA aren't sufficient to protect the public from the man, who was found guilty earlier this year of second-degree murder and robbery following a month-long trial.

"In my view, societal interests, which include respect for the justice system, cannot be attended to by anything less than the imposition of an adult sentence," Oliphant wrote in his decision.

Under the YCJA, the young killer could only have received a maximum of four years behind bars. As an adult, he will get a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole for at least seven years.

Joseph Hall, 24, died in his mother's arms on the same night police flooded his neighbourhood responding to a surge in violent crime.

Two others have already admitted to their roles in the killing. James McMahon, 22, and Randall Preston Bourassa, 22, both pleaded guilty to manslaughter as part of a plea bargain struck with justice officials. Both were given the equivalent of 10-year prison sentences.

Hall's killers were apparently out of beer when they decided to find innocent victims to rob while strolling through the North End, court was told. Oliphant called the group "urban pirates on bicycles" who didn't care who they hurt or killed.

Their first target was robbed and stabbed but escaped with only minor injuries. The next victim, Hall, suffered three stab wounds to the chest, one of which punctured his heart.

The youngest killer has an extensive criminal history.

Just weeks before Hall was slain, he was given one month of time served in custody and 15 months of supervised probation for numerous breaches of court orders.

He was also placed in a special program that monitors high-risk offenders based on several previous criminal incidents.

His conditions included a nightly curfew, abstaining from drugs and alcohol and having no weapons.

"Many, if not all, of the resources available pursuant to the Act have been employed in an attempt to rehabilitate (the accused)," Oliphant said Tuesday. "Despite that, nothing seems to have worked. He has been assessed as a very high risk to become re-involved."

www.mikeoncrime.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition October 10, 2012 A8