Sentence Ex shooter as adult: Crown, defence

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This article was published 30/05/2023 (830 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A judge will rule today whether a Winnipeg teen should be sentenced as an adult for a brazen shooting at the Red River Exhibition last summer that sent two boys to hospital and fair-goers running for cover.

The now-18-year-old pleaded guilty to one count each of aggravated assault, discharging a firearm with intent and possession of a restricted firearm after a 16-year-old boy and 11-year-old boy were struck by gunfire at the crowded Winnipeg midway around 7 p.m., June 20.

In a rare move, lawyers for both the Crown and defence are recommending the offender be sentenced as an adult to 51/2 years custody.

“As defence counsel, the idea of agreeing to an adult sentence for someone who was a youth at the time of the offence is not something that has been taken lightly,” defence lawyer Jodi Myskiw told provincial court Judge Catherine Carlson on Monday.

Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, the maximum youth sentence for the offences is three years, at least one-third of which would be served under community supervision.

Under the act, youth are considered to be of “diminished moral blameworthiness,” compared to adults. To persuade a court to impose an adult sentence, prosecutors must successfully “rebut” that presumption and satisfy a judge a youth sentence is of insufficient length to hold an offender accountable.

The then-17-year-old offender, a self-described “higher up” in a city street gang, disclosed in a psychiatric report provided to court he was armed with a gun when he attended the exhibition with his girlfriend and another teen male, knowing he might cross paths with a “previous associate” with whom he had been clashing via social media.

The offender’s male friend confronted the 16-year-old victim on the midway, at which point the offender “made the decision to take the altercation to the bathroom, where it was more discrete,” Myskiw said.

The offender, who claimed the victim threatened his girlfriend, intentionally shot at the victim’s lower body “with the intention to injure,” Myskiw said, referencing the psychiatric report.

A ricochet injured an 11-year-old boy.

“This was not impulsive behaviour,” said Crown attorney Jodi Koffman. The offender “knew exactly what he was doing when he brought that gun to a family friendly event.”

Court heard the offender has a family history of violence and substance abuse and was abused while in foster care. He lives with cognitive deficits, post-traumatic stress disorder and depression.

The offender has “some challenges, but that is not enough to dispense with an adult sentence,” Koffman argued.

“Cognitive abilities aside, life experiences can give you the behaviour of an adult and the moral capacity of an adult. This could have gone so much worse. As horrible as it was for the (victims) involved, this could have resulted in much more horrible circumstances.”

In a pre-sentence report provided to court, the offender expressed a need to arm himself at all times, saying: “I would rather go to jail for having a gun, than get shot without one. I don’t think people should carry, but that’s the way it is.”

“That both concerns the Crown and raises empathy for him,” Koffman said.

“(He) was raised in the type of lifestyle where he feels he’s not safe anywhere he goes if he’s not armed, which is a huge safety concern.”

Carlson adjourned the case for a day, saying she needed more time to consider the joint recommendation.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca