Nunavut judge rejects plea deal in snowmobile-smashing case

Nunavut Justice Paul Bychok has rejected a plea deal negotiated for a 28-year-old man from Rankin Inlet accused of smashing a snowmobile with a baseball bat.

The joint sentencing submission would have seen Dustin Maclean, who pleaded guilty in November, receive a suspended sentence and six months of probation.

But Bychok said in his judgment, signed on Feb. 11 and released on March 4 by the Nunavut Court of Justice, that Crown and defence lawyers failed to provide “critical details relevant not only to what happened, but to the appropriate sentence.”

“I am not saying that the lawyers intentionally intended to mislead the court,” Bychok wrote. “However, in my view, their failure to provide critical information had the effect of misleading this court.”

Bychok said Crown Prosecutor Doug Garson failed to file any written explanation of the considerations that led the Crown to agree to the joint submission with defence lawyer Matthew Eaton-Kent.

Judges may only rarely depart from joint submission requests, Bychok said, but in this case he said he felt he had many reasons to question and reject the lawyers’ submission.

Bychok also said he believes it would be unfair to hold Maclean to his guilty plea, as it was based on his lawyer’s negotiation of “an extremely lenient sentence recommendation” from the prosecutor.

So, when Maclean appears in court next on March 12, he will be given another chance to decide how to plea.

“The joint submission, in amounting to no more than a slap-on-the-wrist, fails to hold Maclean properly to account,” Bychok said.

“This fact undermines the lesson we intend to deliver to encourage him to mend his ways. Criminal actions without meaningful consequences undermine rehabilitation.”

The incident that resulted in the charges against Maclean took place about a year ago, on March 2, 2018.

The RCMP received calls at about 5 p.m., saying that a man was damaging a snowmobile with a baseball bat behind the post office.

According to evidence presented in court, Maclean went to the post office carrying a baseball bat in a backpack.

Inside the post office he “exchanged words” with an employee. Maclean complained the employee had stolen money from him, then went outside and started repeatedly hitting the postal worker’s snowmobile before riding away.

Maclean pleaded not guilty on May 8, 2018, to a charge of damage to property. But on Nov. 8, the day his trial was set to start, he changed his plea to guilty.

Maclean, who is not Inuk, moved to Rankin Inlet to be with his partner, with whom he has one child, Bychok said. Maclean is a pipefitter, making $45 per hour. He works 80 hours a week, three weeks on followed by two weeks off.

“I was told he is in ‘high demand’ for his skills,” Bychok said.

Maclean’s lawyer, Eaton-Kent, said his client suffers from both mental health and addictions issues. He stated that Maclean has bipolar disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and also experiences anxiety. He had been seeing counsellors regularly, one for addictions and one for mental health.

He said Maclean’s “addictions issues ended when he moved to the territory … He has maintained sobriety up here and the territory has been an excellent influence on him.”

And Maclean is remorseful about the snowmobile-smashing incident, Eaton-Kent said.

But, in his judgment, Bychok pointed out that Maclean is a repeat offender. He has 24 prior convictions on his criminal record that date back to 2006.

Bychok noted his criminal record includes one prior conviction for property damage, six crimes of violence, one for uttering threats, one for obstruction, three for theft or possession of stolen property, one break and enter, one for being unlawfully in a dwelling house, two for possession of illegal drugs and eight breaches of court orders.

Bychok acknowledged that there are mitigating factors working to lessen the sentence: Maclean changed his plea to guilty on the scheduled trial date and he accepted responsibility.

“This Court always gives meaningful credit to someone who does this and Maclean expressed remorse for his actions,” Bychok said.

But there are also several aggravating factors at work to increase a sentence, he said.

The crime was planned and premeditated, and Maclean has a lengthy criminal record: “The proposed sentence does not give adequate weight to these aggravating factors,” Bychok said.

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