SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A Dettah man convicted of setting fire to his wife's home has lost an appeal for a shorter jail sentence.

Jimmy Beaulieu, 47, appealed his 15-month jail sentence on the basis that he should have been given five to 11 months in jail, as recommended in a joint submission from defence lawyer Dan Rideout and Crown prosecutor Shannon Smallwood.

It was also argued in his appeal that media reports concerning the criminal charges should have been considered in sentencing, and whether the trial judge made a mistake in not giving Beaulieu double credit for the amount of time spent in pre-trial custody.

The appeal was heard in court on June 16. In a decision issued July 3, three justices for the Court of Appeal of the Northwest Territories, Earl Johnson, Jack Watson and Frans Slatter, stated, "a trial judge has wide latitude to exercise his discretion on the sources and types of evidence on which to base his sentence. We see no basis to interfere with the exercise of that discretion."

The decision also noted the sentence Justice J. Edward Richard handed down "was reasonably within the scope of the joint submission."

In reference to pre-trial detention, the justices stated that sentencing judges "have some discretion" when deciding how much time a convicted person should be credited for the amount of time spent in jail prior to trial. Beaulieu was not given a typical two-for-one credit for pre-trial custody. The appeal decision also stated "the sentence was not demonstrably unfit."

Beaulieu was sentenced Feb. 10, 2009 after pleading guilty to arson and two counts of breaching court conditions. He admitted to setting his wife's home on fire on Aug. 3, 2008. Beaulieu set the fire using an oil pan in a crawl space, causing extensive damage to a bedroom in the home. Beaulieu attempted a second fire using the kitchen stove, but was unsuccessful.

Beaulieu was also given three months each for the two breach charges, but they were to be served at the same time as the arson sentence.