ESTEVAN — A Carnduff man received an 18-month prison sentence and another 18 months of probation for drug and firearm offences.
Zachary Christopher Hillis, age 32, was sentenced May 26 in Estevan Provincial Court. He received 18 months, or 548 days, for possession for the purpose of trafficking, and a concurrent five-month sentence for possession of a firearm/prohibited weapon when knowing it was unauthorized. Another charge for possession for the purpose of trafficking was stayed.
He will spend 219 days in jail, as he had already been in custody for 219 days, stemming from an arrest in October 2024, and was therefore given credit for 329 days.
The probation carries a series of standard conditions.
Hillis was arrested and charged, along with two others, by the Carlyle RCMP on June 9, 2024. Charges were stayed against one co-accused, while the other, Matthew Lowry, later pleaded guilty and received an 18-month conditional sentence order.
The Crown was seeking two years less a day in jail for Hillis, while his defence was looking for a sentence of the same length, but with a conditional sentence order that would include a 24-hour curfew and ankle monitoring.
In handing down the sentence, Judge Mitch Miller noted that despite Hillis' arrest last June, he continued to traffic cocaine while on a release order. Hillis was arrested on numerous charges in October 2024.
Miller said the court is not convinced that Hillis is ready to deal with his issues, noting the pre-sentencing report says Hillis is "in a contemplative stage of change, as he has verbalized his desire to make changes, but has yet to make commitments to change his lifestyle and address his various problems."
Hillis has said he is seven months sober.
Also, when Miller asked Hillis at a May 14 sentencing hearing in Carlyle about the impact of the drugs on the community and those he sold drugs to, Hillis said he had not thought of it that fashion.
"He did say it was probably no better than it did to him," said Miller.
Hillis still has other matters before the court. His next court appearance is slated for June 26 in Carnduff.
