Case information

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Charter of Rights — Criminal law — Sentencing — Segregation — Cruel and unusual punishment — Applicant sentenced to fifteen years imprisonment without reduction for time spent in pre-trial custody and subjected to periods of segregation — Whether sentence or periods of segregation amounted to cruel and unusual punishment — Charter, s. 12.

The applicant pled guilty to one count of attempted murder in relation to a shooting that occurred in the parking lot of a children’s hospital in Halifax in 2008. He was 18 years old at the time of the offence and admitted to being the shooter. In accordance with a joint recommendation by the Crown and his trial counsel, the applicant was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment with no reduction for pre-trial custody. At the time of sentencing, the applicant had already spent 29 months in pre-trial custody, with repeated periods of time spent in segregation.

The applicant’s guilty plea and the joint recommendation were premised partly on the Crown’s withdrawal of an eleven count indictment alleging, among other things, another attempted murder on the same victim. The applicant’s co-accused received sentences ranging from 5 to 10 years of imprisonment for their participation in the shooting.

The applicant sought to appeal his sentence, arguing that the sentencing judge erred because the facts presented by the Crown were incomplete, that he did not have the requisite intent for attempted murder, that certain particulars were overlooked, that his segregation while imprisoned prior to and after sentencing constituted cruel and unusual punishment; and, lastly, that his sentence was demonstrably unfit.