Plea deal nets dangerous offender status

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 15/01/2020 (2236 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

He’s racked-up nearly 110 criminal convictions and spent most of his adult life in custody.

Now, Edward Letandre has been labelled a dangerous offender and sentenced to 20 years in prison for attacking his cousin, whose mistake was letting him stay in her Winnipeg apartment when he had nowhere else to go.

Letandre, 49, pleaded guilty to one count of robbery in a plea bargain in which prosecutors stayed additional charges and Letandre agreed not to force the matter to trial.

Dangerous offenders are typically incarcerated for indeterminate terms, and only released when parole officials are satisfied it is safe to do so. Letandre’s plea bargain also took that condition off the table.

“It was only through a lot of give-and-take that we arrived at this ‘quid pro quo’-type of plea,” defence lawyer Nolan Boucher told Queen’s Bench Justice Anne Turner. “I’m not sure anyone is happy with the resolution here today. There are no winners.”

To be designated a dangerous offender, an accused must be guilty of a personal injury offence punishable by at least 10 years in prison, and have exhibited a repetitive pattern of aggressive behaviour that constitutes a threat to public safety.

Letandre’s record includes more than 20 convictions for violence, all of them involving Indigenous women. All of his violent crimes were committed while he was on probation, parole, or bound by a court order. The longest he has remained out of custody without reoffending is six months.

“Even his behaviour where there are no charges involves violence and aggression towards women, including female corrections offices to whom he has been aggressive, disrespectful and threatening,” Crown attorney Cindy Sholdice told Turner.

Court heard Letandre’s cousin believed he was “going through a hard time” in December 2017, when she agreed to let him stay at her Portage Avenue apartment and sleep on the couch.

A year-and-a-half earlier, the woman had been attacked by a stranger with a hammer. The woman told Letandre she continued to suffer from anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, Sholdice said.

Days after he moved in, Letandre saw the woman had $250 in her purse and asked if he could borrow it. The woman refused, saying she needed it for rent. The next morning, Letandre asked for the money a second time, and again was refused.

“Letandre immediately responded by punching (her) in the face with a closed fist in an uppercut motion, knocking her unconscious,” Sholdice said. When she awoke three hours later, her cash was gone, as well as her $500 cellphone.

Police arrested Letandre 2 1/2 months later.

Letandre blamed every one of his crimes on alcohol, which he said he used to numb the pain of a traumatic youth marked by physical and sexual abuse at his First Nation school.

“It helped take my fears away,” Letandre said during a 30-minute address punctuated by tears and long silences.

“Now it’s taken everything away, including my family and my freedom.”

Letandre said he only recently started disclosing the full scope of the abuse he suffered, fearing doing so would make him appear weak.

“I knew my parents loved me, but I was scared to tell them,” he said. “It’s hard for me to tell the truth, but it’s time for me to let it go.”

Turner said she “sincerely hoped” Letandre was being truthful, but expressed some skepticism, noting he has participated in “countless” rehabilitative programs across the country, but has made no real effort to change.

“If you are honest in what you told me, you have to follow through and take the help that is offered you,” Turner said.

Letandre received credit for time served, reducing his remaining sentence to 18 years.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca