Here is an example of a situation that should never be allowed to occur. How does a serial convicted criminal with an extensive record in both the US and Canada manage to enter the country regularly after being deported 10 times? Good question. I have clients who have been turned around at the border for a simple misdemeanor for which they paid a small fine and CBSA made a big deal out of it. I think that they need to have their priorities examined.
R. v. Willis
Between
Her Majesty the Queen, and
Kirk Willis
[2010] O.J. No. 3930
Ontario Court of Justice
Toronto, Ontario
J.J. Keaney J.
April 21, 2010.
(205 paras.)
Charges: Immigration Act
Counsel:
Counsel for the Crown: V. Goela, Ms.
Counsel for the accused: E. Scofield, Esq.
________________________________________
GUILTY PLEA PROCEEDINGS
1 J.J. KEANEY J.:-- Is this your client, Mr. Scofield?
2 MR. SCOFIELD: Yes, it is, Your Honour.
3 THE COURT: Yes, Ms. Goela.
4 MS. GOELA: Goela.
5 THE COURT: Goela. Sorry.
6 MS. GOELA: Thank you. Your Honour, this is Mr. Willis in the prisoners' box.
7 THE COURT: Good morning, sir.
8 MS. GOELA: I understand that this is going to be a guilty plea.
9 THE COURT: Is that the case, Mr. Scofield?
10 MR. SCOFIELD: That's correct, Your Honour.
11 THE COURT: Mr. Scofield, is there any need for me to conduct a plea comprehension inquiry?
12 MR. SCOFIELD: No. The accused has been through this before, Your Honour, and he knows well that the ultimate sentence is entirely up to you. He knows that he's got no defence to these charges.
13 THE COURT: Thank you. Madam Clerk, you can proceed, please, to arraign.
14 CLERK OF THE COURT: Thank you, Your Honour. The Crown has an election. How are you electing?
15 MS. GOELA: Indictment.
16 CLERK OF THE COURT: Mr. Scofield, does your client wish the trial election read to him?
17 MR. SCOFIELD: No.
18 CLERK OF THE COURT: What forum does he elect to proceed?
19 MR. SCOFIELD: He elects to proceed by a judge of the Ontario Court of Justice, namely His Honour here today.
20 CLERK OF THE COURT: Thank you. Kirk Willis stands charged sometime between the 18th day of November, 2009, to the 7th of February, 2010, at the City of Toronto, in the said Region, or elsewhere in Canada ... Mr. Willis, are you listening?
21 THE ACCUSED: Yes, ma'am.
22 CLERK OF THE COURT: Thank you.
23 THE ACCUSED: I apologize.
24 CLERK OF THE COURT: ... did contravene the provision of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, to wit: being a person against whom a removal order was made and having been removed from Canada, or having left Canada, unlawfully did come into Canada without the authority of an Immigration Officer, as required by Section 52(1) of the said Act and thereby did commit an offence contrary to paragraph 124(1)(a) of the said Act.
25 Sir, how do you plead to this charge as arraigned, guilty or not guilty?
26 THE ACCUSED: Guilty.
27 CLERK OF THE COURT: You may have a seat.
28 THE COURT: Thank you, Mr. Willis. Please have a seat. Please listen carefully to what the Crown has to say.
29 THE ACCUSED: Yes, sir.
30 MS. GOELA: On February 7th, 2010, the accused, Kirk Willis, with a date of birth of February 1st, 1962, was arrested by the Highway Safety Division of the Ontario Provincial Police Toronto Detachment for obstructing a peace officer and exceeding 80 milligrams of blood alcohol content while being in a motor vehicle.
31 At the time of his arrest, he gave the name of Paral J. Paris with a date of birth of February 1st, 1962. The accused later advised officers of his correct name and investigation confirmed that the accused has no legal status in Canada.
32 The accused stated to Canada Border Services Agency Inland Enforcement Officers that he had driven across the border from the United States into Canada.
33 Mr. Willis has also been previously deported from Canada on ten separate occasions, December 1982, April 1993, April 1997, June 2000, June 2001, January 2002, October 2002, September 2004, August 2007, and the last time Mr. Willis was deported from Canada and his departure was confirmed was on November 18th, 2009.
34 Mr. Willis requires the written authorization of an immigration officer to return to Canada. He has again not sought, nor has received the consent to return to Canada.
35 Mr. Willis also has an extensive criminal history in Canada and the United States. He has been convicted five times previously for returning to Canada without authorization.
36 On February 26th, 2010, a criminal investigator with the Canada Border Services attended the holding cells of Old City Hall and arrested the accused, charging him with one count of returning to Canada without authorization, Section 124(1)(a) of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act. He was given his Charter rights, his cautions, his Vienna convention rights, which he all fully understood.
37 Mr. Willis was then transferred to 103 court for a bail hearing. He's the subject of a deportation order and will be removed at the end of the judicial proceedings.
38 Those are the allegations.
39 THE COURT: Mr. Scofield, are those substantially correct?
40 MR. SCOFIELD: They are, Your Honour.
41 THE COURT: Stand up, please, Mr. Willis. I accept your pleas, sir. I make a finding of guilt on the charge. Please have a seat.
42 MS. GOELA: Your Honour, I have passed a couple of cases over to Mr. Scofield in support of the Crown's position. On the last date that we were in court, I also provided a copy of these cases to Mr. Willis. It's the case of R. v. Blackwood, I've included the Ontario Court of Justice decision, as well as the Ontario Court of Appeal decision which confirms the lower court's sentence.
43 The Crown is seeking the maximum sentence, which is two years. Mr. Willis has an extensive criminal record in Canada as well as the United States. Mr. Willis has had several convictions for returning to Canada illegally, as well as entries for obstructing justice, drug offences and theft.
44 Most notably, Mr. Willis' last conviction for illegally returning to Canada was in January - it was on January 9th, 2009. He received a sentence of 19 months.
45 So a criminal record is being alleged. The last conviction, the most recent one, is - I have a certified copy of the conviction because it's not on case-tracking yet. I'm also going to hand up the United States criminal record. If Your Honour would like, I could read in the summary of the criminal history, which has been prepared by the investigator, Raymond Morrell.
46 THE COURT: Are the records admitted, Mr. Scofield?
47 MR. SCOFIELD: They are, Your Honour.
48 THE COURT: I am content to mark the Canadian record exhibit one, the U.S. record exhibit two.
EXHIBIT NUMBER ONE: Canadian Criminal Record.
- Produced and marked.
EXHIBIT NUMBER TWO: United States Criminal Record.
- Produced and marked.
49 CLERK OF THE COURT: Your Honour, with respect to the certified copy of Information of the previous conviction?
50 THE COURT: Exhibit three, please.
EXHIBIT NUMBER THREE: Certified copy of conviction.
- Produced and marked.
51 MS. GOELA: Your Honour, would you like a summary of the convictions from the United States, or is the record sufficient?
52 THE COURT: Well, let me have a look and see.
53 MS. GOELA: I know that they categorize their offences a bit differently.
54 THE COURT: These may have duplicate entries.
55 MS. GOELA: Yes.
56 THE COURT: Why do you not give me -
57 MS. GOELA: Summary.
58 THE COURT: - the quick summary of it, please.
59 MS. GOELA: All right.
60 THE COURT: Sorry, just a moment, before I go that far. Mr. Scofield, where do we stand on the sentence submission?
61 MR. SCOFIELD: There is one very mitigating circumstance.
62 MS. GOELA: I haven't had a chance to look at this letter.
63 MR. SCOFIELD: It's a letter from the wife, who has got six - was advised late last year she's got six months to a year to live with cancer and is so sick she can't come to court for him today. He did try, when he found out her situation, by making an application, he says, at the border in Buffalo, but they told him it would take at least a year to process it and by then she'd be dead. So he - notwithstanding, he had an operation of his own in February of this year, the date was December the 4th of '09, he had a surgery for a broken ankle and came over here in a cast, was stopped here, charged with impaired.
64 THE COURT: Is Mr. Willis' country of origin the United States?
65 MR. SCOFIELD: He's born in the United States. He's an American citizen.
66 THE COURT: What prevents his wife joining him in the United States?
67 MR. SCOFIELD: Her physical condition. She's Canadian.
68 THE COURT: All right.
69 MR. SCOFIELD: And she's so sick that she's not able to get out of the house even.
70 THE COURT: What is your sentence submission?
71 MR. SCOFIELD: My friend is asking for the maximum and under normal circumstances, given the record and the number of previous convictions for the same thing, it's not inappropriate. Given all of -
72 THE COURT: The record supports the Crown's submission -
73 MR. SCOFIELD: Yeah.
74 THE COURT: - from my quick review of it.
75 MR. SCOFIELD: It does. What I would suggest is that given the unusual nature of her physical - less than a year to live, that Your Honour might consider cutting that in half. He's been - he hasn't done - he's done about a week dead time. The sentence on the impaired was over - he finished his sentence on April the 12th. I have proof of the fact that he -
76 MS. GOELA: Your Honour, before I read the letter that my friend has passed to me, I do have a couple of additional comments to make -
77 THE COURT: Go ahead.
78 MS. GOELA: - for the Crown's submissions.
79 In addition to the allegations that I read out, Mr. Willis actually has 17 aliases that he has provided in the past. I earlier noted that he does have a recent conviction for returning illegally to Canada.
80 THE COURT: Nineteen months, yes.
81 MS. GOELA: Yes. And he's demonstrated that he can return to Canada. He evades border authorities and he has a complete disregard for Canadian laws. Not only does he come back to Canada illegally, but he also commits crimes while he's here.
82 The cases that I've handed up, R. vs. Blackwood, I could summarize the facts, but they're somewhat similar in the sense that in the case of Blackwood, the accused had - was up for drug charges as well as immigration offences, returning illegally to Canada several times. The Ontario Court of Justice and then the Ontario Court of Appeal confirmed that it would be an appropriate sentence to give two years, the maximum.
83 THE COURT: Sorry. Just a moment. Yes, Mr. Scofield, I just want your client to listen to all of the sentence submissions from the Crown.
84 MR. SCOFIELD: I'm sorry, Your Honour.
85 THE COURT: Go ahead. Take a moment. All right. Go ahead. Continue, please.
86 MS. GOELA: In addition, Mr. Willis is currently on an immigration hold as well. And again, as I was saying from the facts, this is actually his 11th time returning to Canada, at least as known to authorities.
87 So I understand that Mr. Willis may have some sympathetic reasons for coming to Canada, however, he does commit crimes while he's in Canada and he hasn't sought any approval from the Minister to return to Canada. It doesn't seem as though he's applied for any sort of humanitarian or compassionate considerations to return to Canada. He just comes back to Canada on his own.
88 THE COURT: I'll give you a chance in a moment, sir.
89 THE ACCUSED: Okay. Sorry, sir.
90 MS. GOELA: I've just read the letter that my friend has passed to me.
91 THE COURT: Yes.
92 MS. GOELA: It doesn't change the Crown's position.
93 THE COURT: Thank you. Anything else, Mr. Scofield?
94 MR. SCOFIELD: I think it might be helpful if Your Honour took a quick look at that letter.
95 THE COURT: All right.
96 MR. SCOFIELD: And the bottom one is the date referrable to the operation in Buffalo.
97 MS. GOELA: I'm sorry, Your Honour, I don't know if I was clear, but the Crown is asking for -
98 THE COURT: Sorry, everyone, just be quiet, please. This is a serious matter. I do not want to miss anything here. I would be grateful if you could all just be still and quiet for a moment.
99 MS. GOELA: I had stated earlier that the Crown is seeking two years, and just to clarify, that would be two years in light of any pre-sentence custody. So two years on top.
100 THE COURT: Yes, Mr. Scofield.
101 MR. SCOFIELD: The answer to your question about her leaving, she's never applied before to go to the States, but she's prepared to do that. We're waiting to see what happens today. And I can totally understand with a record both there and here what she's asking for. I think it might be beneficial to everyone if you gave him something like a year, let him serve that and then get shipped back and then have her hopefully still alive to go back there with him. What's the point for the Canadian -
102 THE COURT: I am not certain, Mr. Scofield, that that addresses what you put before me as the most significant mitigating factor. According to Ms. Paris, if I accept her letter at face value, early in this year she was given a prognosis of six months to a year.
103 THE COURT: She's - I know, it's very dicey. And I can understand, in spite of the record, the stupidity of doing what he did, to come back to be with her. They've been married for eight years, common-law for about 26 years.
104 THE COURT: I appreciate that submission, Mr. Scofield. This is beyond stupidity. This is blatant, continual, constant disregard.
105 MR. SCOFIELD: I understand.
106 THE COURT: If a married couple wants to be together, they can choose a country to be in and go there where both are eligible to be.
107 MR. SCOFIELD: It seems to me the cost of keeping him here for two years is -
108 THE COURT: There is that. There is no end of -
109 MR. SCOFIELD: I know.
110 THE COURT: - the calculation of what Mr. Willis' criminal conduct may have cost the Canadian taxpayer. Ten previous deportations.
111 MR. SCOFIELD: I know. I know. Well, I think he'd like to address Your Honour about -
112 THE COURT: Yes. I will give him an opportunity.
113 MR. SCOFIELD: Yes.
114 THE COURT: Is there anything else, Mr. Scofield, that you want me to hear?
115 MR. SCOFIELD: Just the sympathetic situation of a dying wife.
116 THE COURT: Thank you. Sorry, Mr. Scofield, there is reference in this letter to a September 18, 2009, letter. Do you have that?
117 MR. SCOFIELD: No, I don't. You don't have it either, do you? Your wife wrote a letter in September about her situation.
118 THE ACCUSED: No.
119 MR. SCOFIELD: No.
120 MS. GOELA: I don't have it in my file either.
121 MR. SCOFIELD: And that other letter simply is referable to the date of his operation. I think it was December the 4th, '09.
122 THE COURT: Yes. That was a simple ankle fracture.
123 MR. SCOFIELD: A fractured ankle, right. My friend has a letter here dated September the 18th.
124 MS. GOELA: Your Honour, I've just reviewed the letter from September 18th, 2009. It's unsigned but-
125 THE COURT: Give me just a moment, please.
126 MR. SCOFIELD: Seems the Duty Counsel had it in her file, Your Honour.
127 THE COURT: Right. I am sorry. Go ahead.
128 MS. GOELA: I've reviewed the letter of September 18th, 2009. I note that it is unsigned. However, even if we are to take the letter at face value, Ms. Velvet Paris has indicated that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in the Fall of 2007 and I would just note that Mr. Willis has a record of illegally returning to Canada and other crimes committed in Canada prior to the Fall of 2007. This again doesn't change the Crown's position.
129 THE COURT: Thank you. Anything else, Mr. Scofield?
130 MR. SCOFIELD: No, that's it.
131 THE COURT: Stand up, please, Mr. Willis. Is there anything you would like to say, sir? You do not have to, but I will listen to anything that you want to tell me.
132 THE ACCUSED: Pretty much, Your Honour -
133 THE COURT: Speak up, please.
134 THE ACCUSED: I listened to what was just said about me and if I was in your position, I would say the max also, you know, empathizing with the whole situation.
135 My whole adult life, Your Honour, I've been involved with criminal activity and I felt comfortable with it. I mean, I thought I was going to be involved with criminal activity all my life. I was compelled to a life of crime when I was 14 years old. I was arrested for something I didn't do. I was one of the first young offenders that if you commit adult crime, you'd be placed in an adult facility, and for five years I was in this adult jail for something I didn't do. Nobody believed in me. I mean, I went in an innocent child and I came out a full grown criminal and I accept - my whole family, nobody believed in me.
136 So once I went to trial and victims told the truth and said the police made them say I was with this gang that I was never with and I was charged with numerous robberies and attempt murders. It destroyed my life. It destroyed - I mean, my goals, my dreams, it destroyed everything. In fact, to be honest with you, Your Honour, I couldn't wait to commit my first criminal activity because nobody believed in - even when they told me I was free to go, nobody said "we're sorry," nothing. They just let me out in the streets with nothing. I couldn't go back to my family because they didn't believe in me. Nothing - I didn't get no help, no counselling, no rehabilitation, nothing. I was out -
137 THE COURT: When was that, sir?
138 THE ACCUSED: This was like in my early twenties. I was 14 years old when I was in New York.
139 THE COURT: How many years ago was this?
140 THE ACCUSED: This is over, Your Honour, my adult life, almost 30 years. You know what I mean. So -
141 THE COURT: So you did not get help 30 years ago.
142 THE ACCUSED: No, I never - I - when I got out of jail, Your Honour, I just start committing crime and it snowballed. I never got involved with the drugs, so I'm not saying that, you know, for you to feel sorry for me, everybody feel sorry for me because I was a drug addict, and this and that and another. I never dealt drugs. I never got involved with selling guns, nothing like that, but I was doing petty offences. It was personal with me.
143 And then it was a time I was so distorted and so confused and so upset, that it was times I didn't even care if I got caught. I wanted to show someone like this is what you did to me, this is what the system did to me as a black man, as a minority. Nobody believe or nothing. Even with my record you got, you ain't gonna see no conditional discharges or probation like white guys. I don't get no breaks, sir, nothing like that. You know what I mean.
144 When I was a young adult, Your Honour, it snowballed into - I mean, it just got to a place where I'm lying to the police. They lied on me, so I'm lying in on them. You know what I mean. Any time I go to court, I get arrested, I lie. I even lie to go to jail. There was times that I done pled guilty to things I didn't even do. You know what I mean. For instance, this situation - I changed my name in New York. I changed my name numerous of times. You know what I mean. You come back cross the border to be with my wife.
145 But I wanted to change.
146 THE COURT: How long have you been - this is your common-law spouse for -
147 THE ACCUSED: No, we married.
148 THE COURT: - six years. When did you get married?
149 THE ACCUSED: We got married in early 2000. But Your Honour, when I tried to change my life -
150 THE COURT: And at that point in time you had been evicted - you had been deported from Canada -
151 THE ACCUSED: Numerous of times. Probably about five or six times, Your Honour. But let me explain please -
152 THE COURT: Quickly, please, sir.
153 THE ACCUSED: When I - when I was in the States I learned from my comrades, you know what I mean, all black history. I've learned - and one of the Crown said to me - one of the Crown said to the judge that I come to Canada because it's easy pickings. That's the furthest from the truth.
154 When I first came to Canada, I came up here - I believed back then what I was taught about black history, that my ancestors used to have to - they escaped from America to come to Canada to be free. And I believed back then like I believe now, that Canada is one of the greatest countries in the world. I didn't come over here to commit no crime or -
155 THE COURT: Has it been made clear to you what Canada thinks about your presence here?
156 THE ACCUSED: I'm already know.
157 THE COURT: Okay. Let's move on from that then, sir.
158 THE ACCUSED: Okay.
159 THE COURT: Is there anything else you wish to say?
160 THE ACCUSED: Yes, Your Honour. So when I came to Canada, I'm working, I'm feeling free - I got arrested because somebody robbed me - I was standing right down the street here selling goods. Somebody went in my hotel room, stole all of my property, stole my money. The police, when they came to interview me, they found out that I had a record back in the States and they deported me.
161 In fact, if you can see back in '82 I was illegally deported. They say that you're supposed to have two years or more. They illegally deported me. But when they deported me, they took everything from me. So now I'm triggered, that old criminal activity coming back and I couldn't wait to come back here and make crime. Please, Your Honour, I never did come over here to hurt nobody or nothing like that. And I mean it was personal. You know what I mean.
162 And every time I go to jail - I haven't been to your penitentiary - don't nobody try to help a minority. We - in the community is like two to three percent of the blacks here. Well, we overpopulate in the jail. We got everybody black. We not no dangerous to society or no real bad people. We've got some decent people. But minority - we be a minority, the world look down on us, especially a black man, everybody hate us. We don't get no breaks. I mean -
163 THE COURT: Sir, that is an outlandish statement for you to make in my courtroom. All right.
164 THE ACCUSED: But it's the truth, sir -
165 THE COURT: Sir -
166 THE ACCUSED: - with all due -
167 THE COURT: - I have heard enough about that.
168 THE ACCUSED: Okay.
169 THE COURT: That is an outlandish statement for you to make in my courtroom, sir. Whatever difficulties you had, they have to do with your criminal conduct -
170 THE ACCUSED: Okay.
171 THE COURT: - not the colour of your skin.
172 THE ACCUSED: No, I -
173 THE COURT: Sir, now is a good time for you to drop the victim-hood
174 THE ACCUSED: Your Honour, I -
175 THE COURT: - in which you wrap yourself. Is there anything else you want to say about the sentence -
176 THE ACCUSED: Yes, Your Honour.
177 THE COURT: - that is suggested.
178 THE ACCUSED: Your Honour, when I met my wife over 20 years ago, I tried to change. You know, I'm speaking the truth. You know what I mean. I know I did - you know, like I said, the system destroyed my spirit, took away my dreams, locking me up for something I didn't do. You know what I mean. I'm a decent person. You know what I mean. You don't see me - you don't see me, my record reflects that, selling drugs or selling death to people. You know what I mean. It was out of survival. I tried to work. Every time I tried to get a job, my record come back and haunt me. You know what I mean.
179 I come up here, even with my wife, you know what I mean, she's got breast and bone cancer. I tried to go to the immigration and do the right thing and to your embassy in Buffalo. They shot me down. I paid $400 for the fee. I got in contact with your Minister, the Honourable Jason Kinney and wrote him up from the House of Commerce, him a letter, your Minister of Public Safety, Mr. Vic Lore, I got in touch with a few people trying to - you know, I'm telling - I want to change, you know what I mean. My wife - when they told me my wife got six months to a year to live, I snapped. I didn't use -
180 THE COURT: The best way, sir, to demonstrate your desire to change is actually implement some change and nothing in your record suggests to me that that is the case. Is there anything else?
181 THE ACCUSED: Yes, Your Honour. Your Honour, at the end of the day I want to change. You know what I mean. I want to be - I want to be a part of the - you know what I mean, a law abiding member of the social order. I can change. I want to change.
182 You know what I mean. I want to be honourable. I want to do right. I'm asking you for your help and your consideration to sentence me with humane and compassion, Your Honour. I mean, I did a lot of things in my past, you know what I mean, but I want to change. You know what I mean. You know what I mean.
183 I never got probation. Put some - put some time over my head. Give me a conditional discharge. Give me a fine, Your Honour. You got a broad view of sentence you can hit me with. You know what I mean. I never had a break. You know what I mean. I really want to change. I really want to do good. I got a nice plan. You know what I mean. But I need you, you know what I mean, at the end of the day, Your Honour.
184 I know I ain't got nothing else to go on. I've been - I love this woman with all my heart. You know what I mean. I know my record reflects that I should get the max, but I'm asking you to sentence me with humane and compassion, Your Honour, please.
185 THE COURT: Thank you, sir. Give me a moment, please.
186 Following your entry of a plea, Mr. Willis, I made a finding of guilt on a charge of contravention of the Immigration Refugee and Protection Act, contrary to Section 124(1) (a) of that Act.
187 Your case, sir, poses significant issues. You are certainly, by reason of the medical condition of a woman you describe as your wife, your wife who describes herself as your common-law spouse - I have two letters from her indicating that she is in dire difficulty with respect to cancer. In the early part of this year, she was given a prognosis of six to twelve months. That situation would, in virtually every circumstance, generate significant sympathy from the Court in light of the Crown's sentence submission for a custodial term.
188 The other side of the coin, sir, is this: You are an admitted career criminal. You have ignored 10 previous deportation orders. Your whole life has been one exhibiting disdain for authority, for the rules that govern society. You have indulged in criminal conduct virtually your entire life. On 10 previous occasions you have illegally re-entered Canada and in that time there has been a virtually uninterrupted period of criminal behaviour on your part.
189 You tell me that all of this stems from an unlawful arrest and imprisonment when you were a teenager some 30 years ago. You made clear to me that you have decided, as a result of that, to wrap yourself in the cloak of victim-hood. You make references to your race as some factor involved in your criminal conduct. I, sir, do not make that connection at all. You make the assertion that black people are not a danger to society. That is about the most truthful thing you said. I do not and no one here thinks that is the case. You, sir, are a danger to society.
190 In Canada, clearly the place you want to spend a lot of time, what you suggest goes on does not occur. You, sir, get treated in this court just like everyone else. You have spent enough time in this country to be able to understand that if you wanted to. It seems to me it suits you though to wrap yourself as a victim, as a product of a lifetime of unjust convictions.
191 I am sorry, sir, none of that persuades me in the least. You clearly are a menace. You tell me that you now have a plan and you want to change, but nothing in the 30 year record before me suggests that I should give even the remotest bit of credence to that.
192 I come back to the situation involving your wife. Do not be under any misapprehension as to how sympathetic I am to you and to her about that situation. But sir, you have made the situation in which you find yourself. Any other level of conduct on your part during the time you have been in Canada, or while you have lived in the States, indeed your entire adult livelihood, could have resulted in a different outcome.
193 If ever there was a circumstance where it could be concluded that the chances have been used up, yours is it.
194 I cannot conceive of any situation, in light of this record, that would render it inappropriate for me to accept the Crown's sentence submission.
195 You will be sentence to custody for a period of 24 months.
196 THE ACCUSED: Your Honour -
197 THE COURT: I am sorry, sir. Thank you very much.
198 THE ACCUSED: Thank you, thank you, thank you. I wanted to say something that you got me real bad, but I'm a changed man and whatever you say, I'm going to change. Thank you for your time. I had it on my heart to say what I really want to say to you, but thank you.
199 THE COURT: Thank you, sir. Good luck to you. Mr. Scofield -
200 MR. SCOFIELD: Yes, Your Honour.
201 THE COURT: I think it would assist the sentencing authorities if I marked the documents you had given me as exhibits. Mr. Willis' medical certificate is exhibit four, letter from Ms. Paris, September 18, 2009, exhibit five, letter from Ms. Paris, February 27, 2010, is exhibit six.
202 MR. SCOFIELD: I think so too. Thank you, Your Honour.
203 THE COURT: I'm sorry?
204 MR. SCOFIELD: It would be helpful to have the authorities -
205 THE COURT: I think so.
EXHIBIT NUMBER FOUR: Medical Certificate.
- Produced and marked.
EXHIBIT NUMBER FIVE: Letter dated September 18, 2009.
- Produced and marked.
EXHIBIT NUMBER SIX: Letter dated February 27, 2010.
- Produced and marked.
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