26/09/06, Dawn Walton, Alberta Mountie got off too lightly, judges rules
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CALGARY -- A former Mountie who shot a prisoner to death was wrongly sentenced to two years under house arrest when he should have been sent to jail for twice as long, the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled yesterday.
It is the latest twist in a legal saga involving Mike Ferguson, a veteran Alberta RCMP officer. He was convicted in 2004 of manslaughter for killing Darren Varley, a 26-year-old truck driver who, in 1999, was in jail in Pincher Creek in southern Alberta after being picked up for public drunkenness.
"We're absolutely elated he's going to jail," said Connie Varley, Mr. Varley's sister-in-law.
Mr. Ferguson, 52, shot Mr. Varley twice -- first in the abdomen, then in the head -- during an altercation. He was tried three times for second-degree murder, but the first two trials ended with hung juries. The third jury returned with a guilty verdict on the lesser charge of manslaughter.
In December, 2004, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Ged Hawco ruled that incarceration would be "grossly disproportionate" to the crime. He granted a constitutional exemption to the mandatory minimum sentence of manslaughter with a firearm of four years in prison and ordered a conditional sentence of two years less a day.
"He erred in determining that the four-year mandatory sentence was cruel and unusual punishment for Ferguson's crime and that an individual constitutional exemption was available as a remedy," Madam Justice Adelle Fruman wrote for the majority of the three-judge appeal court.
But one appeal court judge disagreed, which Mr. Ferguson will likely present to the Supreme Court of Canada as a strong basis to hear an appeal, according to lawyer Don MacLeod, whose partner has been handling Mr. Ferguson's defence.
Mr. Ferguson, who had completed the original sentence, could not be reached yesterday at his home in Kamloops. He was making arrangements to turn himself in and will likely apply for bail pending appeal, Mr. MacLeod said.
It is the latest twist in a legal saga involving Mike Ferguson, a veteran Alberta RCMP officer. He was convicted in 2004 of manslaughter for killing Darren Varley, a 26-year-old truck driver who, in 1999, was in jail in Pincher Creek in southern Alberta after being picked up for public drunkenness.
"We're absolutely elated he's going to jail," said Connie Varley, Mr. Varley's sister-in-law.
Mr. Ferguson, 52, shot Mr. Varley twice -- first in the abdomen, then in the head -- during an altercation. He was tried three times for second-degree murder, but the first two trials ended with hung juries. The third jury returned with a guilty verdict on the lesser charge of manslaughter.
In December, 2004, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Ged Hawco ruled that incarceration would be "grossly disproportionate" to the crime. He granted a constitutional exemption to the mandatory minimum sentence of manslaughter with a firearm of four years in prison and ordered a conditional sentence of two years less a day.
"He erred in determining that the four-year mandatory sentence was cruel and unusual punishment for Ferguson's crime and that an individual constitutional exemption was available as a remedy," Madam Justice Adelle Fruman wrote for the majority of the three-judge appeal court.
But one appeal court judge disagreed, which Mr. Ferguson will likely present to the Supreme Court of Canada as a strong basis to hear an appeal, according to lawyer Don MacLeod, whose partner has been handling Mr. Ferguson's defence.
Mr. Ferguson, who had completed the original sentence, could not be reached yesterday at his home in Kamloops. He was making arrangements to turn himself in and will likely apply for bail pending appeal, Mr. MacLeod said.
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