Supreme Court
Decision Information
Decision information:
Abstract: Transcript of the Reasons for Sentence
Decision Content
R. v. Taggart 2013 NWTSC 02
S-1-CR2011000189
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
IN THE MATTER OF:
HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN
- vs. -
JUSTIN TAGGART
_________________________________________________________
Transcript of the Reasons for Sentence by The Honourable
Justice L. A. Charbonneau, at Yellowknife in the Northwest
Territories, on December 3rd A.D., 2012.
_________________________________________________________
APPEARANCES:
Mr. A. Godfrey: Counsel for the Crown
Mr. A. Gill: Counsel for the Accused
----------------------------------------
Charge under s. 5(1) Controlled Drugs and Substances Act
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1 THE COURT: Earlier this week,
2 Mr. Taggart entered guilty pleas to two counts
3 of trafficking in cocaine and today it is my
4 responsibility to impose a sentence on him for
5 those offences.
6 A joint submission has been presented by
7 counsel when we did the sentencing hearing and
8 for those who were here, obviously counsel and
9 Mr. Taggart, but also members of his family
10 who were there and are here today, they will
11 have heard that I expressed some concern about
12 that joint submission. But I do want to say
13 at the outset that after having given this
14 much much thought and consideration, I have
15 decided to follow the joint submission. In
16 other words, I have decided to agree with what
17 has been suggested by counsel. But now I am
18 going to give some additional reasons and I
19 hope that even though I have chosen not to
20 leave Mr. Taggart hanging for a few extra
21 minutes wondering what I would do with this
22 case, I do hope that he will listen carefully
23 to what I am about to say.
24 The circumstances of these offences are
25 quite straightforward.
26 In November 2010, the RCMP engaged in an
27 operation whereby they were investigating
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1 street-level drug trafficking in the city of
2 Yellowknife. As part of this operation, they
3 decided to use undercover police officers.
4 Mr. Taggart was one of the targets who had
5 been identified prior to the undercover part
6 of the operation.
7 On November 9th, police learned from an
8 informant that Mr. Taggart was involved in
9 what is commonly referred to as a dial-a-dope
10 operation, meaning that he was selling cocaine
11 using a cell phone.
12 On two separate occasions, November 18th
13 and November 20th, the undercover police
14 officers were able to purchase cocaine from
15 him. Each transaction was set up by a very
16 simple exchange of text messages. The first
17 transaction was for two grams (the individual
18 baggies sold did not actually weigh a full
19 gram, but that is not unusual) and the officer
20 paid $200 for it. The second time the officer
21 asked for three grams and was able to purchase
22 those for $300.
23 Mr. Taggart was arrested some time later,
24 in March 2011, for these offences. I heard
25 that when the police dealt with him,
26 Mr. Taggart was polite and cooperative. He
27 was released on an undertaking with a number
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1 of conditions, which included a curfew from 11
2 p.m. to 7 a.m., which applied unless he was
3 working nights, as well as a condition that he
4 not have a cell phone or any other device that
5 allows text messaging. I am told that he has
6 complied with those conditions between then
7 and now, a period of over a year and a half.
8 Crown counsel has gone further and has
9 advised that he has been able to confirm with
10 police that as far as they are aware through
11 their various channels, Mr. Taggart has
12 removed himself completely from this type of
13 activity.
14 Mr. Taggart does not have a criminal
15 record.
16 He was born in September 1991 which means
17 that he is 21 years old now and was 19 at the
18 time that he committed these offences.
19 He has grown up in a supportive and loving
20 environment and is very fortunate to still
21 have the full support of his family
22 notwithstanding what he has done. This
23 support is evidenced in letters that were
24 filed with the Court earlier this week.
25 The first is from his parents. They
26 obviously care about their son and support
27 him. Their letter says that he has always
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1 lived with them up until June 2011, that he
2 did well in school, has worked full-time
3 consistently since he graduated from high
4 school, and that he has also been making
5 efforts to further his education through
6 distance learning. The letter also says that
7 they were shocked to hear about these charges.
8 They believe that Mr. Taggart's behaviour at
9 the time was completely out of character and
10 they also believe that he now understands the
11 seriousness of his actions and that he will
12 not do anything like this again.
13 There is another letter from a person
14 named Barb Watson who writes that she has
15 known Mr. Taggart for three years and knows
16 him as a very active person who enjoys the
17 outdoors, does not party or hang around in
18 bars. She has always known him to be a quiet,
19 hard working young man.
20 There is also a letter from the supervisor
21 of Facility Services at Stanton Yellowknife
22 Hospital that indicates that Mr. Taggart is
23 employed full-time at that facility. A copy
24 of an offer of employment that relates to his
25 current job has also been filed. The position
26 is described as a full-time casual position
27 which, according to the document, expires in
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1 February 2013, but I know that those jobs are
2 often renewed from term to term.
3 I was also advised that Mr. Taggart has a
4 girlfriend and has been in that relationship
5 for two years.
6 The picture that this information paints
7 of Mr. Taggart is very positive and, by all
8 accounts, the picture of a stable, healthy,
9 hard working and functional young man - not
10 just since he was charged but going back
11 years. It is very difficult to understand
12 what brought him to the point where he would
13 even consider selling cocaine. It is very
14 disturbing to think that at the time he was
15 engaged in this type of activity, he was
16 living with supportive parents who knew him to
17 be hard working and was also, at that time,
18 considered by Ms. Watson to be a quiet and
19 responsible person.
20 What we know now is that in November 2010,
21 Mr. Taggart was living somewhat of a double
22 life. He presented himself as the person that
23 his parents had always known; yet, somehow, he
24 had become involved in an underworld that is
25 not only illegal but terribly destructive. He
26 became the target of a drug investigation and
27 when he was contacted by the undercover
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1 officers, he responded to their text messages
2 and was able to bring them a few grams of
3 cocaine, both times, in fairly short order.
4 There is no explanation before me for this
5 conduct. Mr. Taggart was not selling to
6 support an addiction. I have not heard
7 anything about any particular financial
8 problems or particular stresses in his life at
9 the time. As I have already said, he lived at
10 home and for all intents and purposes
11 everything seemed to be fine.
12 Why then? To make quick money? Because
13 of bad influences and wanting to fit in? To
14 impress new so-called "friends"? To rebel?
15 To prove something? I don't know. There are
16 more constructive ways to rebel and more
17 convincing ways to prove oneself and I hope
18 that he understands that now.
19 But whatever the reason was, this conduct
20 has taken Mr. Taggart quite literally to the
21 doorsteps of a jail. And I sure hope that my
22 acceptance of the joint submission that was
23 presented to me in this case will not leave
24 him or anyone else with the wrong impression
25 or minimize the seriousness of his conduct.
26 Because this conduct is very serious. It is
27 punishable by a maximum of life imprisonment,
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1 which is saying something. If it were not for
2 the joint submission and for the combination
3 of circumstances that counsel have put before
4 me and have convinced me, somewhat reluctantly
5 I must say, to accept it, Mr. Taggart would
6 not be leaving this building through the same
7 door he walked in. He would be leaving
8 through the back door in custody and under
9 escort and he would be heading to the North
10 Slave Correctional Centre which would become
11 his home for the next couple of years. He
12 would not be the first young man without a
13 criminal record to leave the courthouse that
14 way for having trafficked in hard drugs.
15 Counsel have jointly submitted that a fit
16 sentence for Mr. Taggart is a jail term
17 between 18 months and two years less a day,
18 served in the community under the auspices of
19 a conditional sentence order, and followed by
20 probation for one year.
21 As a sentencing Judge, I am bound by the
22 law that is stated by our Court of Appeal.
23 One of the principles in sentencing law is
24 that a joint submission has to be given
25 serious considerations by the sentencing Court
26 and should be followed unless the sentencing
27 Judge finds that it is clearly unreasonable or
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1 unfit. This was decided by our Court of
2 Appeal in R. v. Wong 2007 NWTCA 5 which
3 essentially incorporated the principles set
4 out in R. v. G.W.C. 2000 ABCA 333.
5 The approach has been adopted in other
6 jurisdictions as well, if described slightly
7 differently. For example, in Ontario it has
8 been said that a joint submission should be
9 followed unless it is contrary to the public
10 interest and, if accepted, would bring the
11 administration of justice into disrepute.
12 R. v. Dorsey (1999) 123 O.A.C. 340.
13 Of course the ultimate decision on
14 sentencing is the sentencing Judge's, not
15 counsel. But our Court of Appeal's direction
16 is that when a joint submission is presented,
17 it should be followed unless completely
18 unreasonable or outside of the range. The
19 reasons that joint submissions are to be
20 afforded a lot of weight by Judges in the
21 exercise of their discretionary power are
22 explained in those cases, and I will not go
23 over those reasons again.
24 There is, of course, a difference between
25 the Court giving a joint submission serious
26 consideration and the Court abdicating its
27 ultimate responsibility to impose a fit
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1 sentence. Courts cannot be seen and should
2 not be seen as rubber stamping a position
3 simply because it is jointly presented if that
4 position is unfit. Courts have to satisfy
5 themselves that the position is not
6 unreasonable.
7 For any given offence committed by any
8 offender, there is always a range of sentences
9 that will be fit. There is rarely just one
10 fit sentence for a crime.
11 When considering a joint submission, the
12 exercise that the Judge has to undertake (if
13 he or she has some concerns about the joint
14 position) is to decide whether those concerns
15 come simply from disagreeing with counsel
16 about where the sentence should be within the
17 available range, or, whether it comes from the
18 conclusion that the position is actually
19 unreasonable. And although it is simple to
20 say the words, the exercise itself can be
21 somewhat delicate.
22 As I have alluded to, it would have been
23 apparent, I expect, from my exchange with both
24 counsel during submissions, that the joint
25 submission creates some discomfort for me.
26 The reason for that is that I do find it
27 somewhat difficult to reconcile the position
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1 with the jurisprudence in this jurisdiction.
2 It causes me some concern, in part, because of
3 the principle of parity, when I compare this
4 case, for example with the Territorial Court's
5 decision in R. v. Gosselin 2011 NWTTC 15 and
6 this Court's decisions in R. v. Turner 2006
7 NWTSC 67 and R. v. Basson 2000 NWTSC 12. The
8 concern is not just about parity, though,
9 because I do recognize, and it is important
10 always to remember, that sentencing is a
11 highly individualized process and rarely are
12 two cases exactly alike. The concern comes
13 also because of what this Court and others
14 have said about the seriousness of trafficking
15 in hard drugs; the sentencing objectives that
16 are of particular concern and importance when
17 dealing with sentencing of those who engage in
18 this activity; the moral blameworthiness that
19 attaches to people who commit these offences;
20 and importantly, the ravages that this
21 activity has caused in our communities. I
22 know that counsel must recognize this because
23 they have realistically acknowledged that this
24 position does constitute a departure from
25 sentences that are ordinarily imposed in these
26 cases in this jurisdiction.
27 For example, the Territorial Court was
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1 dealing with a situation, not identical but
2 not completely different either from this one,
3 in R. v. Gosselin. In that case, the defence
4 asked for a conditional sentence and the Crown
5 asked for actual incarceration. Judge
6 Malakoe, in very thorough reasons addressing
7 the various applicable sentencing principles,
8 declined the request for a conditional
9 sentence in that case.
10 Those same principles led this Court to
11 reject a joint submission for a conditional
12 sentence in R. v. Desjarlais 2007 NWTSC 23.
13 The facts were very different. That case
14 involved the possession for the purpose of
15 trafficking of 21 one-gram pieces of crack
16 cocaine and some cash. The accused was in his
17 60s but he had no criminal record. He had, up
18 to then, been an upstanding citizen of
19 previous good character. So the facts were
20 different.
21 The reason that I bring that case up is,
22 because in giving his reasons for rejecting
23 the conditional sentence that was being
24 jointly proposed, Justice Richard of this
25 Court explained why he considered that a
26 conditional sentence in that case would be
27 inconsistent with the fundamental purpose and
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1 principles of sentencing.
2 One of the things that he noted was that
3 the sentencing was not just about the offender
4 before him but that the sentencing was about
5 the harm that this activity causes in the
6 community, about the harm that the drugs that
7 were found in Mr. Desjarlais' possession would
8 have caused if they had made it to the
9 streets. And in his comments, Justice Richard
10 included several examples that are compelling
11 and are not theoretical. He spoke of real
12 cases, actual situations that have happened
13 here in this community.
14 I will suggest, and it may seem unusual
15 but I will suggest, Mr. Taggart, that you take
16 the time to read that case. I don't usually
17 give reading suggestions to people that I
18 sentence; in fact, I have never done it. But
19 I do so today simply because in that decision,
20 as other Judges did in other cases, Justice
21 Richard talked about examples from this
22 community, Mr. Taggart's community, and talked
23 about the impact that the trafficking of hard
24 drugs have had.
25 It must be understood that this type of
26 activity causes harm to a lot of people and
27 places everyone at risk. It is activity that
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1 now puts Mr. Taggart and his loved ones at
2 risk. It could be his house that gets broken
3 into next. It could be his girlfriend or
4 family member or a friend who gets assaulted
5 on the street because someone wants to steal
6 their phone or laptop or whatever else to get
7 access to quick money. The community is
8 harmed by this and the community is not just
9 other faceless nameless people. The community
10 is not just others.
11 All that being said, and having given this
12 a lot of thought since Monday, I cannot say
13 that following the joint submission that has
14 been presented in this case would be contrary
15 to the public interest or would bring the
16 administration of justice into disrepute given
17 the whole of the circumstances that I have
18 heard, which include Mr. Taggart's age now and
19 at the time that he committed these offences;
20 the fact that while there were two separate
21 incidents they were very closely connected in
22 time; the guilty pleas; Crown counsel's
23 explanations about the extensive resources
24 that would have had to be spent to prosecute
25 this case given the present location of all of
26 the witnesses; what defence counsel has said
27 about there being real triable issues in this
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1 case, which is something that the Crown did
2 not dispute; Mr. Taggart's current situation
3 and his obviously very good prospects
4 for rehabilitation; his lack of criminal
5 record; and his demonstrated ability to comply
6 with strict release terms while he was on bail
7 since March of 2011. It is the cumulative
8 impact of all of these circumstances that has
9 persuaded me that the joint submission,
10 despite the concerns that I have talked about,
11 cannot and should not be characterized as
12 unreasonable. And so my duty, in law, is to
13 follow it.
14 But, for the sentence to be consistent
15 with the fundamental principles and purposes
16 of sentencing, the conditional sentence must
17 have a punitive effect. It must create severe
18 restrictions to Mr. Taggart's freedom.
19 Conditional sentences are not like probation
20 and they should not feel like probation, and
21 the Supreme Court of Canada made this point
22 very clearly in R. v. Proulx 2000 SCC 5.
23 Because it is a jail term. The conditions
24 have to be strict and they have to be punitive
25 in order to address the sentencing objectives
26 that they are meant to address and to uphold
27 the principles of sentencing, particularly,
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1 the principle of proportionality.
2 Stand up, please, Mr. Taggart.
3 Mr. Taggart, for these two offences, I
4 have decided to sentence you to a jail term of
5 two years less one day on each count but
6 served together, at the same time. I have
7 decided to agree with the request that has
8 been made that you be permitted to serve that
9 sentence by remaining within the community.
10 That will be followed by probation for one
11 year as has been suggested by counsel.
12 There are a lot of conditions I am about
13 to explain so you may sit down - this is going
14 to take a while.
15 Now just so you understand, I have mostly
16 followed the conditions that were suggested by
17 counsel. You will see I have not followed
18 exactly the wording that they have suggested
19 and I have added some things. They are
20 restrictive conditions. They are punitive.
21 But that is deliberate because it is that or a
22 jail cell. And no matter how restrictive I
23 have made these conditions, it is not going to
24 be as restrictive as being in jail is. I know
25 that you understand that.
26 I am going to, for the record, read what
27 the conditions are and then if there are any
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1 questions I will give counsel an opportunity
2 to address them.
3 First, there are statutory conditions.
4 They are the ones set out at paragraph (1) of
5 Section 742.3 of the Criminal Code. This will
6 be written down and explained to you,
7 Mr. Taggart, I just have to read them in for
8 the record.
9 The first is that you have to keep the
10 peace and be of good behavior. The second is
11 that you appear before the Court when required
12 to do so by the Court. The third is that you
13 report to a supervisor, this means a
14 conditional sentence supervisor, within two
15 working days of today's date and thereafter as
16 that supervisor will require. The next is
17 that you remain within the jurisdiction of the
18 Court, so in the Northwest Territories, unless
19 written permission to go outside that
20 jurisdiction is obtained from the Court or
21 from the supervisor. And, finally, that you
22 notify the Court or your conditional sentence
23 supervisor in advance of any change of name or
24 address, and promptly notify the Court or the
25 supervisor of any change of employment or
26 occupation.
27 These are mandatory any time a Court gives
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1 a conditional sentence to someone. Some of
2 the other conditions that I am about to read,
3 especially with respect to address, are
4 actually more restrictive than that so you
5 always follow the more restrictive one when
6 there is an overlap.
7 As far as optional conditions, the first
8 three are going to be applicable for the whole
9 duration of the conditional sentence. The
10 first is that you will complete 240 hours of
11 community service work. Those are to be
12 completed within 18 months of today's date.
13 That's under the law, it is not my
14 requirement, and that is to be completed under
15 the supervision and to the satisfaction of
16 your conditional sentence supervisor. I am
17 not going to put any other terms as far as X
18 numbers of hours have to be completed by such
19 and such date, I think that better to leave
20 that to be worked out between you and your
21 conditional sentence supervisor.
22 The second one that will be in force the
23 whole time is that you participate in any
24 treatment or counselling program recommended
25 by your conditional sentence supervisor. It
26 may be that none is needed, that's just a
27 fairly standard clause and that is
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1 rehabilitative. That is designed to help you
2 understand what happened here and help you
3 ensure that it doesn't happen again.
4 The third one is similar to one that you
5 have been under for some time - that you not
6 be in possession or use a cell phone,
7 Blackberry, or other device capable of
8 electronic text messaging except if required
9 for employment purposes and if so, with the
10 prior written permission of your conditional
11 sentence supervisor.
12 Those conditions will be in force the
13 whole time.
14 The second clause deals with what has been
15 referred to as house arrest in the
16 submissions. I am going to make that
17 applicable for one year. So until the 6th of
18 December 2013, you will be on house arrest
19 which means that you must be inside your
20 residence at all times, subject to the
21 exceptions that I will mention later. And
22 when the Clerk of the Court goes over this
23 with you, she will ask you what your current
24 address is, and so we start off with that, and
25 then other conditions follow if there is ever
26 a change in that.
27 As part of that, and for the purpose of
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1 facilitating the enforcement of that order,
2 you will not change your address without the
3 written permission of your conditional
4 sentence supervisor. You will have on your
5 person, at all times you are not in your
6 residence, a copy of your conditional sentence
7 order. This is simply so people can check.
8 You will present yourself at the door of your
9 residence or come to the phone if you are
10 asked to do so by a peace officer or your
11 conditional sentence supervisor duly so to
12 ensure compliance. You can understand that
13 they cannot be there all the time. But if
14 they are checking you have to be. Because if
15 you don't answer, they will assume that you
16 are not there. And the fourth one is, because
17 I understand there is some variation in your
18 work schedule, you will provide every month a
19 copy of your work schedule to your conditional
20 sentence supervisor and advise that person of
21 any changes to that schedule. That is because
22 I want to make sure that your supervisor knows
23 when you are supposed to be not in your house
24 working.
25 Now, the requirement that you be in your
26 residence will be subject to the following
27 exceptions provided that you travel directly
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1 from your residence to that location and
2 directly back. I thought of putting
3 timeframes but I think that is just asking for
4 difficulties. If you are going somewhere that
5 you are entitled to go under these exceptions,
6 you will go from house to place and from place
7 back to house. Do you understand?
8 These are the purposes for which you will
9 be permitted not to be in your residence:
10 For the purpose of going to work or for
11 health care emergencies involving you or
12 someone who needs your immediate assistance to
13 get emergency medical treatment; to attend
14 religious services, if that's something that
15 you do; to perform the community service work
16 that you have been ordered to perform; to
17 attend an educational institution within the
18 Northwest Territories with the written
19 permission of your conditional sentence
20 supervisor; to attend counselling that has
21 been recommended by your conditional sentence
22 supervisor; to vote at a municipal, federal or
23 territorial election - I don't know that we
24 will have one but you will have the right to
25 vote if that comes up; with the written
26 permission of your written conditional
27 sentence supervisor to attend other programs
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1 and services deemed appropriate by your
2 conditional sentence supervisor. This is to
3 give your supervisor some flexibility to a
4 certain extent. The last one is to attend to
5 shop for the necessities of life for a total
6 of no more than three hours each week. I have
7 made it three and not four because I think
8 that is workable.
9 Now I will be honest with you, I thought
10 of putting a clause in there requiring you to
11 actually plan this in advance with your
12 conditional sentence supervisor. I have
13 decided against that because it may be that
14 too many conditions will be counterproductive.
15 The reason that I was considering that,
16 Mr. Taggart, is that for all intents and
17 purposes this is a jail sentence and I did not
18 want this three hours to turn into some sort
19 of license to go whenever you want and then
20 using that condition as the reason for being
21 out. So I suggest that you keep track of when
22 you are going out under that clause and so if
23 anyone comes asking you, you can explain how
24 you have used it. So that takes care of the
25 house arrest.
26 The next condition is not one counsel has
27 suggested. I know it is a punitive condition
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1 but, again, it is not nearly as restrictive as
2 what you would be subjected to if you were
3 inside a jail.
4 For that first year, you will abstain from
5 consuming alcohol. In a jail you couldn't so
6 there is no reason why you should be inside
7 your house having a party when you are
8 supposed to be in serving a jail term.
9 The next part is for the second half. So
10 that is from December 7th, 2013 until the end
11 of this order.
12 For that period of time you will no longer
13 be on house arrest but you will abide by a
14 curfew and be inside your residence between 11
15 p.m. and 6 a.m. except for employment
16 purposes. So, again, for the purposes of
17 enforcement of that part of the order, again
18 you will not change addresses without the
19 written permission of your conditional
20 sentence supervisor. You will come to the
21 door of your residence or come to the phone if
22 you are requested to do so by a peace officer
23 or your conditional sentence supervisor for
24 the purpose of ensuring your compliance with
25 the curfew. My understanding is that they are
26 not in the habit of phoning every night at 3
27 a.m. to wake you up to make sure that you are,
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1 but it is possible depending on how things are
2 going that they will want to check compliance
3 with the curfew and if so, you will have to
4 cooperative. If you are required to work
5 during your curfew hours, because you have
6 permission to do that, you will provide in
7 advance a copy of your work schedule to your
8 conditional sentence supervisor.
9 And then, finally, after the expiration of
10 that you will be on probation for one year and
11 there will be some conditions. And here, for
12 the most part, I have followed the suggestion
13 of counsel with one exception.
14 For the period of probation you will keep
15 the peace and be of good behavior; appear
16 before the Court when required to do so by the
17 Court; you will report to your assigned
18 probation officer. Your conditional sentence
19 supervisor will help up with that. I am not
20 sure if the same people effect the same task.
21 It may be this is seamless, it may be the same
22 person, but you have to be under the
23 supervision of a probation officer for that
24 part. You will advise your probation officer
25 if you have any changes in name, address,
26 residence, or employment. You will remain
27 within the jurisdiction of the Court unless
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1 you get permission to go outside the
2 jurisdiction from the Court or from your
3 probation officer. You will reside at such a
4 place as may be approved in writing by your
5 probation officer. Again, if there is a move,
6 you need to clear that with them first. And
7 there will be a continuation of the condition
8 that you attend treatment or counselling as
9 recommended by the probation officer.
10 The last thing that I will add to this,
11 this is over a fairly long period of time, is
12 I will put a requirement that you do some
13 community service work under that term as
14 well. I am not going to make it 240 hours, I
15 am going to make it 100 hours. Again, I don't
16 know whether your conditional sentence
17 supervisor (and later probation officer) if
18 something can be worked out that will be truly
19 useful to the community and might even include
20 raising the awareness of people your age or
21 around your age about this problem and the
22 problems it causes.
23 The Crown has also sought ancillary
24 orders. There will be a DNA order. This is a
25 primary designated offence.
26 There will be a firearms prohibition order
27 that will commence today and expire ten years
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1 from now.
2 I will also impose what is called a victim
3 of crime surcharge that is provided for in the
4 Criminal Code. It is $100. This is something
5 that can be ordered as part of a sentence for
6 an indictable offence. The money goes to a
7 fund to assist victims of crime. This is not
8 a victimless crime so I consider since
9 Mr. Taggart has been working and will continue
10 to be working, there is no basis to waive it.
11 There will also be an order for the
12 destruction of any exhibits that were seized
13 in this investigation at the expiration of the
14 appeal period.
15 All of this will be explained to you again
16 by the clerk. It is very important that you
17 remember, as your counsel pointed out, that
18 any breach of any of the conditions of the
19 conditional sentence order, one of the
20 possible consequences of that is that the rest
21 of the sentence gets served inside a jail.
22 And I can tell you, it would of course depend
23 on the circumstances and the explanations for
24 the breach, but people who are bound by a
25 conditional sentence order are on very very
26 thin ice if they breach some of the
27 conditions. Do you understand?
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1 THE ACCUSED: (Affirmative nod).
2 THE COURT: All right. Is there
3 anything that I have overlooked or that I have
4 not made clear?
5 MR. GILL: Not from my perspective,
6 thank you.
7 MR. GODFREY: Neither am I, thank you.
8 THE COURT: Mr. Taggart, I will say
9 again you are very very fortunate to have
10 people that support you. I see a lot of
11 people come to court being sentenced without
12 any support. And there are also many people
13 who don't have the chance of having grown up
14 in a loving, supportive environment. So you
15 have a lot going for you so don't waste it. I
16 really really hope I never see you again in a
17 courtroom. It would very disappointing and I
18 am sure it would be crushing for those people
19 who are here today supporting you. But I do
20 wish you luck. We will close court.
21 -------------------------------------
22 Certified to be a true and
accurate transcript pursuant
23 to Rules 723 and 724 of the
Supreme Court Rules,
24
25
26 ____________________________
27 Lois Hewitt,
Court Reporter
Official Court Reporters 26
You are being directed to the most recent version of the statute which may not be the version considered at the time of the judgment.