- Criminals can receive sentence discounts for compensation if police violate their Charter rights by abusing their force as long as Judges dont undercut mandatory minimum sentences, ruled the Supreme Court on Friday.
- Judges must stay within legislated limits of mandatory minimums.
- A sentence reduction can be a remedy for police misconduct
- Judge could reject/ignore mandatory minimum only where the police beating was extremely severe
- There are 43 mandatory minimum sentences in the Criminal Code for murder, impaired driving and firearm related offences.
- They are controversial because they eliminate judicial discretion and overcrowd prisons without deterring crime.
- Supreme Court in favour of reducing prison terms for defendants who were abused by police.
- Besides police brutality, sentences could also be reduced by unreasonable trial delays and unwarranted searches.
- Decision came from a man whose ribs were broken by police after he led them on a high speed chase.
- The Supreme Court upheld the Alberta Court of Appeal decision that imposed the mandatory minimum sentence for drunk driver Lyle Nasogaluak.
- Ruled that Judges should not go below the mandatory minimum unless the case is extraordinary.
- Lyle was intoxicated and driving when police tried to pull him over.
- Instead of complying, he sped away and led them on a high speed chase where he finally stopped his car.
- He refused to get out of his vehicle and one of the officers punched him in the head twice before wrestling him to get out of the car.
- The man continued to resist and the officer punched him again in the head.
- When he refused to be handcuffed, another officer punched him in the back, breaking some of his ribs.
- He was crying in pain when he was in custody and officers did not attempt to get him medical help.
- When he was released, he went to the hospital and discovered he had a collapsed lung caused by the broken ribs.
- He plead guilty to impaired driving and fleeing the police and he was given a conditional discharge on both counts because police violated his charter rights to security of person and abused their force, using more than was necessary in the situation.
- Alberta Court of Appeal said the Judge could not ignore the mandatory minimum sentence for impaired driving and instead, imposed a $600 fine.
I completely agree with this ruling by the Supreme Court. Police should not be allowed to abuse their force and violate others' charter rights. Maybe this ruling will make police more cautious and aware of the degree of force that they are applying and will hopefully, attempt not to use extreme force, because then a guilty person may be acquitted or given a much lighter sentence than they would like.
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