It was an interesting morning at Yorkton court Monday.
I will start with the two news stories we ran this week.
First up, Cheywin Ironstand. This is a name that is well-known to the authorities and media types like myself who spend a lot of time in court, but until a couple of weeks ago, the general public would not have heard of him because he was a youth. Just shortly after his 18th birthday, however, he was arrested for breaching a youth order and on Friday last, was sentenced for the first time as an adult. He got fines, but Judge Patrick Reis warned him that given Ironstand’s prodigious youth record and inauspicious initial foray into adulthood, he would be going to jail the next time he appeared before the court.
When the RCMP brought him into the prisoner box Monday, the judge quipped, “Hey Cheywin, long time no see.”
Not really the most auspicious welcome to adulthood.
Next up, Cindy-Lou McAllister. If we reported on every drunk driving conviction, we would have a weekly section of the paper called Drunk Driving Convictions, so generally we don’t report on any of them.
McAllister, however, had the misfortune of not only getting caught, but also causing a collision in which she is very lucky no one was seriously injured or killed so she gets to be the poster child for the message: Stop driving drunk already; it is 2015, we all know better.
As a consequence, she received an elevated fine based on the crash and blood alcohol levels that were two-and-half times the legal limit. At that level, she would have been a risk to herself and others walking much less driving.
On any given Monday in court, .20 would win the BAC of the day award. Not on this Monday, dear readers. This Monday that ignominious honour went to Samantha Cooke, who clocked in at a whopping .25. Earlier in the evening of her offence, Ms. Cooke had actually been a responsible party-goer, who brought a designated driver along. At the end of the evening, the DD dutifully took her home, but after arriving there, Cooke decided she just had to have a a burger (or something). The drive-thru staff at a local restaurant noticed she was wasted and called police, who arrested her still in the drive-thru. At .25, she was lucky to be conscious much less driving.
Then there was the dude who almost talked himself out of a conditional discharge. This one has been going on for quite some time while said dude applied for legal aid was denied, applied for court-appointed counsel, was denied and finally consulted with the Crown himself and came up with a joint submission for the judge.
In exchange for a guilty plea on one count of theft under $5,000 and one count of fleeing from police (obstruction), the accused would spend nine months on probation. A conditional discharge is a great deal. All you have to do is keep your nose clean for the period of the order and you walk away without a criminal record.
Only when it came time for dude to have his say—which is strictly non-mandatory—he started mounting a defence for his actions.
This is something Judge Patrick Reis does not tolerate. He warned dude on several occasions that if he wanted to mount a defence, the judge would have to throw out the not guilty plea and schedule a trial.
Sometimes (almost always) it is best to remain silent in court.
Speaking of keeping one’s nose clean, one of the prisoners on Monday had done so for four years. Unfortunately for him, on Saturday he got so drunk that he passed out in the bus depot. When the RCMP picked him up and looked up his name, they found out he was on a warrant from 2011 for domestic assault and failing to appear in court. One of the conditions of his release back then was no contact with the victim, who, as it turns out has been living with him ever since and was there to support him.
Judges have a reputation for being stoic, but that is not always the case. After hearing the Crown’s submissions, Reis asked how far the bus station is from the police station. Prosecutor Todd Wellsch responded with “two blocks.”
“I guess this was his way of turning himself in,” the judge joked.
You never know what you’re going to get in court. Sometimes it is like watching plants grow, but this Monday was actually quite entertaining.
