OTTAWA –
The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled that a mandatory minimum sentence of four years for firing a gun at a house is unconstitutional.
The ruling comes in the case of Jesse Dallas Hills, who pleaded guilty to four charges stemming from a May 2014 incident in Lethbridge, Alta., in which he swung a baseball bat and fired at a car with a shotgun, smashed a car window and shot into a family home.
Hills argued that the four-year minimum sentence in effect at the time for recklessly discharging a firearm into a house or other building violated the constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment.
A judge agreed and Hills was sentenced to 3 1/2 years, but the Alberta Court of Appeal overturned the finding of unconstitutionality and the sentence was increased to four years.
Allowing Hills’ appeal today, the High Court said the mandatory minimum sentence was grossly disproportionate given that a young person could shoot a paintball gun at a house as part of a game.
In any case, the Liberal government overturned that particular mandatory minimum sentence, along with others, after the appeal was heard.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on January 27, 2023
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