Man who took chance law would change sent to jail
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/10/2021 (1565 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
A Winnipeg man who hoped to avoid jail time for his past cocaine addiction has been sentenced to 18 months in custody.
Jason Kunicki, 35, pleaded guilty earlier this year to a 2016 charge of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking. The Crown had sought a 2.5-year prison sentence based on his deliberate choice to profit from selling drugs, but Kunicki asked for the judge’s mercy after he pleaded guilty.
A conviction on drug possession for the purpose of trafficking comes with a mandatory minimum jail sentence of one year, but the offence is among a slate of criminal charges that were set to have their mandatory-minimum sentences repealed under proposed federal legislation that died when the federal Liberals called the Sept. 20 election.
Kunicki thought he would benefit from Bill C-22 — his sentencing hearing was scheduled with the intention that the law would already be in effect. It would have given judges discretion to impose no jail time for convictions on 14 criminal offences, including drug possession and trafficking.
His defence lawyer, James Lowry, said he was disappointed with the sentence, but acknowledged it was in line with other sentences Manitoba courts have handed down for similar offences. Lowry said he is in favour of seeing mandatory minimums repealed.
“One size doesn’t fit all. Sentencing is a very individual process,” he said.
When he appeared in court last week, Kunicki told Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Anne Turner he has been sober for five years. He said at the time of his arrest he had been addicted to cocaine and sold the drug to his friends to support his habit.
During his sentencing hearing Oct. 13, court heard Kunicki was charged in 2016 after police searched his home and found less than an ounce of cocaine. They also found four ounces of cutting agent and material to repackage the drugs.
“I’ve been fighting a drug addiction my whole life; somebody that’s never been addicted to drugs has no idea what that’s like,” a tearful Kunicki told the judge last week. “I am truly, truly ashamed… I just ask the judge and courts to please have mercy.”
fpcity@freepress.mb.ca