Pubdate: Tue, 05 Dec 2006
Source: St. Croix Courier, The  (CN NK)
Copyright: 2006 St. Croix Printing & Publishing Company, Limited
Contact:  http://www.stcroixcourier.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4229
Author: Kathy Bockus

GRAND MANAN MEN SENTENCED

ST. ANDREWS -- Two Grand Manan men will spend the next year under 
house arrest for their part in setting fire to a house during a 
confrontation that turned ugly this summer between island residents 
and a suspected drug dealer and his friends.

As well, Lloyd Stanley Bainbridge, 31, and Michael Dean Small, 27, 
have each been ordered to pay $5,000 in restitution, for a total of 
$10,000, within the next three months to Ronnie Ross, the owner of 
the suspected crack house that was eventually burned to the ground July 22.

Matthew Herbert Lambert, 27, who was found guilty of possession of a 
weapon, a flare gun, dangerous to the public peace, was ordered by 
Mr. Justice Hugh McLellan to spend the next six months under house arrest.

Carter Wayne Foster, 25, found guilty of unsafe storage of a weapon, 
was granted a conditional discharge and placed on six months 
probation with an order to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. 
Mr. Justice McLellan told Foster that he would not have a criminal 
record at the end of his probation if he abided by the conditions.

A fifth man charged in connection with the events of that night was 
found not guilty at the conclusion of a jury trial that lasted two 
and a half weeks in November. Small and Bainbridge were remanded on 
Nov. 18 until their sentencing hearing Monday with Lambert and Foster 
at the historic Charlotte County Court House in St. Andrews.

During Monday's sentencing hearing, Mr. Justice McLellan said he 
wanted to emphasize to the four men how fortunate it was that nobody 
was killed during the events that transpired July 22.

Calling this incident a "tragic case," Mr. Justice McLellan said he 
wanted to "emphasize as politely, plainly and clearly as words 
permit," that if "any one of those people had been killed, you would 
be looking at years, and years and years in the penitentiary."

In handing down the sentences to the four men, the judge said he took 
into account the time they had already spent in jail pending their 
bail and sentencing hearings, as well as the time they were under 
house arrest waiting for their trial to begin.

Under an established formula, which allows credit of double time for 
jail remand time and half time for house arrest time, Foster was 
calculated to have spent the equivalent of 93 days in jail.

Mr. Justice McLellan said, in his view, Foster's cumulative sentence 
was disproportionate to the gravity of the specific charge upon which 
he was found guilty, noting that in many New Brunswick courtrooms, 
individuals facing sentencing on a similar charge receive minor fines.

Crown prosecutor James McAvity, who with Crown prosecutor Randy 
DiPaolo, prosecuted the case, told the judge he was not seeking 
forfeiture of Foster's weapons, a condition that commonly accompanies 
a fine under this particular charge.

Lambert, under the same remand calculations, was given credit for 91 
days in jail, his actual remand time of 18 days, plus 109 days of 
house arrest. Small was credited with 118 days, a combination of 19 
days in jail before his bail hearing, 91 days of house arrest before 
the trial and 17 days in jail since he was found guilty.

Bainbridge was credited with having already served 99 days in jail, a 
calculation of his 10 days remanded before the bail hearing, 90 days 
of house arrest and 17 days remanded until the sentence hearing.

Defense lawyer David Lutz told the judge "these men have learned an 
extremely important life lesson" after being involved in the events 
of July 22 and the consequences, which followed.

Lutz told the court that the events that happened that night are in 
no way to be condoned and said the incident evolved from a situation 
that no one thought through. He said the men on trial were young, 
compared to the age of some of the men there that night, and said in 
this instance, "they listened to their elders when for once in their 
lives they shouldn't have."

During the sentence hearing, McAvity called the case "unique" where 
events not planned "clearly spun out of control."

He said that hopefully no one would ever have to deal with a similar 
set of circumstances, adding that it was, "nothing short of a miracle 
that no one was killed or seriously injured" in the fights and fires 
that occurred that night.

McAvity urged the judge to hand down sentences that did not in any 
way condone the activity that ultimately led to the five men being 
charged, but then asked that the court temper its sentence with mercy.

That night in July, a group of 30 to 40 people gathered at the home 
of Carter Foster on Cedar Street to keep an eye on a home of a 
suspected drug dealer who had visitors from Saint John.

These visitors had been rumoured to be on Grand Manan Island to burn 
down the homes of the people on a "hit list."

The islanders said their gathering was to be a "peaceful 
intervention," but it got out of hand after a fight ensued between 
Ross and Foster.

Gunshots were fired from Ross' side of the road, which led to what 
was described by the judge as "defensive or suppressive fire from 
people on the other side of the road."

The events of that night appeared to have been precipitated by the 
burning of a vehicle sitting on Ross' driveway a few weeks earlier.

When things appeared to have calmed down with the arrival of the 
police on the scene July 22, Lambert's firing of a flare gun, whose 
flare hit Ross in the leg and set fire to his porch, "escalated a bad 
situation" according to the judge.

Judge McLellan said the nation's legal system discourages events that 
lead to the escalation of violence.

He noted that Lutz had said during the trial that "a man's gotta do 
what a man's gotta do," but added "a man has got to keep himself 
under particularly tight discipline and avoid escalating violence."

The judge noted a case in 1786 when a Loyalist settler who lived just 
above Fredericton was hanged for shooting an Indian that he thought 
was stealing his hog during a commotion that awakened him one 
evening. The man was convicted for escalating the level of violence.

That case, said the judge, represents "the longstanding aversion in 
our legal system for escalating violence."

All four men spoke to the court before the judge handed down their sentences.

Foster told the judge he was "very sorry" things got out of control that night.

"It was meant to be a peaceful intervention," stated Foster.

Lambert told the judge he was "truly sorry" that someone was hurt as 
the result of his actions and that "things got out of control."

Bainbridge told the judge he was very sorry for his actions and that 
it was very unnecessary that things got out of control.

Small stated he never intended that night for things to get out of 
control the way they did.

Judge McLellan noted in the victim impact statement from Ross that he 
still suffers from pain from the injury he suffered to his right leg 
from the flare fired by Lambert.

Ross, 42, said his leg pains when the weather is damp and cold and 
when he goes for short walks.

In his statement, Ross said he has nightmares about the incident July 
22 and wakes in a cold sweat when he thinks of people setting fire to 
the house in which he now lives. He said he suffers from low 
self-esteem and feels people look down on him.

Ross said "these criminals" have ruined his reputation and he worries 
about where he will get a job and rebuild his life.

Again referring to the five accused as "these criminals" Ross said 
they took everything from him, except his life.

Judge McLellan said that it was difficult to calculate the amount of 
the restitution order. While the home that burned was " a modest 
house" it was "still the home of Mr. Ross."

The judge set the restitution at half the value of the house and 
property, which was determined in earlier court proceedings to be $20,000.

The house arrest the judge imposed on the three men means they are to 
be in their homes on Grand Manan except for travelling to and from 
work, being at work or for approved absences to go to church, 
doctors' appointments or for groceries.

None is allowed to consume alcohol or non-prescribed drugs. They all 
must keep the peace and be of good behaviour, and must cooperate with 
their sentence supervisors.
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MAP posted-by: Elaine