Lethbridge Courthouse - LNN
Supreme Court of Canada to look at sentence in Lethbridge court case
Feb 18, 2021 | 10:53 AM
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OTTAWA, Ont. — The Supreme Court of Canada will look at the constitutionality of a mandatory minimum penalty of four years in prison for recklessly firing a gun.
The court has agreed to hear the appeal 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 shot at a car with a bolt-action rifle, smashed the window of a vehicle and fired rounds into a family home.
Hills had consumed large amounts of prescription medication and alcohol, and said he did not remember the events.
He argued the minimum four-year sentence for recklessly discharging a firearm violated the constitutional prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
