Zach LarkinsSOMETHING'S WRONG
Just when you think the justice system is headed in the right direction, they come back and slap you in the face with the fact that they are only a legal system.
British Columbia's appeal court reduced the sentence of a teenager who dragged a gas station attendant to a gruesome death over a tank of gas, ruling that the original sentence didn't properly account for his youth and his aboriginal background. I've written about two-tiered justice in the past, where the same crime committed by a woman and a man earned each of them a vastly different sentence. Now it seems we have three-tiered justice.
Three B.C. Court of Appeal judges unanimously agreed Darnell Pratt's sentence should be reduced to seven years from nine. "This remains, in the scheme of youth sentencing, a very heavy sentence," wrote Justice Mary Saunders. "But it is not, in my view, one that could be said to be crushing to this young person who faces the challenge of atoning for his offence." Maybe his ‘crushing challenge' is how to get it reduced even more.
I was under the impression, obviously wrong, that we had one set of laws here in Canada. Whether you were male or female, black, white or red, of any religious stripe, of any ethnicity or any particular gender preference. Boy, have I got a lot to learn.
Pratt and a friend, while driving a stolen car, pulled into a station and proceeded to pump gas. Grant De Patie was working the gas station that day when he noticed the ignition of the car had been punched out with a screwdriver and proceeded to write down the licence plate number. Pratt panicked and took off, driving into De Patie who became trapped underneath the car. He was dragged for 7.5 kilometres. Pratt later told a friend he had killed a person and that he had heard screaming under the car. Read that sentence again. Pratt heard De Patie screaming and what? Kept driving until the screams were silenced. 7.5 kilometres. One cannot imagine what Pratt was thinking. One cannot imagine how horrible those screams must have been. But Pratt just kept on driving.
His lawyer argued for a sentence of just over five years and the Crown argued for just over nine years. The judge settled on a nine-year sentence. But Saunders wrote that although Pratt was sentenced as an adult, he remains a youth and that should have made a difference to his sentence. Here we have to ask ourselves why? Saunders says, "While an adult sentence is reserved. . . for the most serious crimes, the adult sentence imposed will not necessarily be lock-step with the sentence that would be imposed upon an adult in circumstances that are identical except for the offender's age." So if you commit a crime and are young, the rules go out the window, even if you are tried as an adult for the exact same crime. You catch a break because of your youth. Maybe you can do your time at Sprucedale.
Saunders also said Pratt's disadvantaged aboriginal background required "greater emphasis." He had apparently grown up without a father and with a mother who was a drug addict. Well, that should be more than enough to commit any crime you want to and be judged differently than the rest of society. Doug De Patie, Grant's father, said, "I think nine years was a small price to pay." And he's absolutely right when you consider how horrific this murder was. "That (decision) lies on their heads. It's them that ultimately has to be held accountable. I'm embarrassed for Canadians that this is the sentence that you get in Canada for the crime that was committed that day."
In the fine tradition of the Titanic, it's women and children first. Now we have to add aboriginal origins. Fanatical Muslims want to introduce Shariah law. Our country is becoming not one of rules and regulations that everyone, equally must follow, but rather a parking lot for anyone who wants to set up camp and play by their own, special, separate rules. Where the hell are guys like Justice Coulter Osborne when you need them?
It's disgusting.
Sources: Wendy Cox Court Reduces Sentence National Post
British Columbia's appeal court reduced the sentence of a teenager who dragged a gas station attendant to a gruesome death over a tank of gas, ruling that the original sentence didn't properly account for his youth and his aboriginal background. I've written about two-tiered justice in the past, where the same crime committed by a woman and a man earned each of them a vastly different sentence. Now it seems we have three-tiered justice.
Three B.C. Court of Appeal judges unanimously agreed Darnell Pratt's sentence should be reduced to seven years from nine. "This remains, in the scheme of youth sentencing, a very heavy sentence," wrote Justice Mary Saunders. "But it is not, in my view, one that could be said to be crushing to this young person who faces the challenge of atoning for his offence." Maybe his ‘crushing challenge' is how to get it reduced even more.
I was under the impression, obviously wrong, that we had one set of laws here in Canada. Whether you were male or female, black, white or red, of any religious stripe, of any ethnicity or any particular gender preference. Boy, have I got a lot to learn.
Pratt and a friend, while driving a stolen car, pulled into a station and proceeded to pump gas. Grant De Patie was working the gas station that day when he noticed the ignition of the car had been punched out with a screwdriver and proceeded to write down the licence plate number. Pratt panicked and took off, driving into De Patie who became trapped underneath the car. He was dragged for 7.5 kilometres. Pratt later told a friend he had killed a person and that he had heard screaming under the car. Read that sentence again. Pratt heard De Patie screaming and what? Kept driving until the screams were silenced. 7.5 kilometres. One cannot imagine what Pratt was thinking. One cannot imagine how horrible those screams must have been. But Pratt just kept on driving.
His lawyer argued for a sentence of just over five years and the Crown argued for just over nine years. The judge settled on a nine-year sentence. But Saunders wrote that although Pratt was sentenced as an adult, he remains a youth and that should have made a difference to his sentence. Here we have to ask ourselves why? Saunders says, "While an adult sentence is reserved. . . for the most serious crimes, the adult sentence imposed will not necessarily be lock-step with the sentence that would be imposed upon an adult in circumstances that are identical except for the offender's age." So if you commit a crime and are young, the rules go out the window, even if you are tried as an adult for the exact same crime. You catch a break because of your youth. Maybe you can do your time at Sprucedale.
Saunders also said Pratt's disadvantaged aboriginal background required "greater emphasis." He had apparently grown up without a father and with a mother who was a drug addict. Well, that should be more than enough to commit any crime you want to and be judged differently than the rest of society. Doug De Patie, Grant's father, said, "I think nine years was a small price to pay." And he's absolutely right when you consider how horrific this murder was. "That (decision) lies on their heads. It's them that ultimately has to be held accountable. I'm embarrassed for Canadians that this is the sentence that you get in Canada for the crime that was committed that day."
In the fine tradition of the Titanic, it's women and children first. Now we have to add aboriginal origins. Fanatical Muslims want to introduce Shariah law. Our country is becoming not one of rules and regulations that everyone, equally must follow, but rather a parking lot for anyone who wants to set up camp and play by their own, special, separate rules. Where the hell are guys like Justice Coulter Osborne when you need them?
It's disgusting.
Sources: Wendy Cox Court Reduces Sentence National Post
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