Erika Sherk
Northern News Services
Wednesday, March 21, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - In a rare move, an NWT Supreme Court justice rejected a joint sentencing submission from Crown and defence lawyers last week, sentencing a man to a year in jail on a drug charge.

The lawyers had suggested a sentence of one year of house arrest for Tom Desjarlais, who was convicted of one charge of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.

Desjarlais, 63, had pleaded guilty over a year ago to the charge. Police arrested him in October 2005 during a large-scale drug sweep known as "Project Gunship."

Life in prison is the maximum sentence for the offence, said Chief Justice Ted Richard in sentencing Desjarlais, "and so is considered by those who make the laws in this country to be a serious offence."

In Alberta, three years imprisonment is considered the starting point, he said.

Though a joint sentencing recommendation from Crown and defence is not binding, "I am required by law to give it serious consideration," said the judge.

However, he said the decision was not just about Desjarlais, "it's also about the community. This is not a victimless crime."

He said he had carefully considered the idea of a conditional sentence - in this case, house arrest - but said that it just wasn't enough punishment.

Richard said some say that sentencing is the most difficult of a judge's duties, and "this case certainly confirms that."

The sentence needed to send a message to the community that the trafficking of cocaine will not be tolerated, said the judge.

Calling it "a plague which has infested the social fabric of our community," the drug has had a devastating effect in Yellowknife, he said.

Richard acknowledged that Desjarlais was a "minor player" in the drug trafficking ring broken up by Project Gunship. However, he added, "in any commercial enterprise there are major players and minor players. The fact remains that Tom Desjarlais was a player."

Though Desjarlais' guilty plea had not been early - he had originally been scheduled for a judge and jury trial and then a judge-only trial - it was a guilty plea nonetheless, said Richard.

That, and the many letters of recommendation the court received on Desjarlais' behalf lessened the sentence, he said.

If not for those two factors, the judge said he would have handed down a minimum of a three-year sentence.

Desjarlais is also prohibited from using firearms for 10 years.