sentencing

Cases Considered: R. v. Ferguson, 2008 SCC 6

PDF Version: The Death of Constitutional Exemptions? Alberta RCMP Officer Sentenced to Mandatory Four Years for Manslaughter with a Firearm

The death of 23 year old Darren Varley in the custody of the RCMP in Pincher Creek made headlines in October 1999. Varley was shot by an RCMP officer, Constable Michael Ferguson, who was charged with second-degree murder but eventually convicted by a jury of the lesser offence of manslaughter after a four week trial in 2004 (2 earlier trials having resulted in hung juries). Justice G.C. Hawco of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench granted Ferguson a constitutional exemption from s. 236(a) of the Criminal Code, which imposed a mandatory minimum sentence of four years for manslaughter with a firearm, and granted a conditional sentence of two years less one day (2004 ABQB 928). The Crown appealed, and a majority of the Alberta Court of Appeal held that the mandatory minimum sentence could not be avoided (2006 ABCA 261). Constable Ferguson appealed to the Supreme Court of Canada, which dismissed his appeal on February 29, 2008.

Taking Violence Against Women Seriously in Sentencing Decisions

By Jennifer Koshan

On January 12, 2008

In Criminal, State Responses to Violence

Cases Considered: R. v. Diebel, 2007 ABCA 418, R. v. Douglas, 2007 ABCA 321

PDF Version: Taking Violence Against Women Seriously in Sentencing Decisions

In two recent cases, the Alberta Court of Appeal has considered certain forms of violence against women to be an aggravating factor in sentence appeals. While both are memoranda of judgments and thus of lesser weight than reserved reasons for decision, the cases are nevertheless indicative of the Court’s resolve to take violence against women seriously.