He’s sustained “serious head injuries” after being blindsided by a man swinging a bat outside a Saskatoon restaurant. Three others were also sent to hospital;
Saskatoon Police say it happened early Sunday morning outside a restaurant in Sutherland. One of the victims is 25 year old Graeme Bell. He’s a former University of Saskatchewan football player and current member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers. He has a serious head injury. There is a suspect, but there’s no information from police that an arrest has been made.
Just another random act of no meaningful consequences (July, 2000) …
A young man from Saskatoon convicted of killing another man with a cricket bat has been granted full parole.
19 year-old Chris Smishek was sentenced last summer to three and a half years in jail. Smishek admitted to ambushing 23 year-old Scott Asher, then hitting him in the head with a wooden cricket paddle. Asher suffered massive head injuries and died.
The national parole board says Smishek has no prior criminal record, and is at a low risk of re-offending.
Smishek’s friend, 23 year-old Jeremy Gardner, was also involved in the killing. He was sentenced to four and a half years.
Emphasis mine.
Ouch! Here’s wishing that Mr. Bell and those others injured recover completely. And that the guilty person(s) get the book thrown at him.
Very bad for Saskatoon’s public image.
“The national parole board says Smishek has no prior criminal record, and is at a low risk of re-offending.”
Shouldn’t that read,”the NPB is under orders to keep our “incarcerated” population as low as possible, so as to justify our policy of non-punishment for crimes”? And maybe keep costs down, too.
you can do more time for fraud or growing dope, than you do for murder or child rape…..our justice system is a mess…..I had an uncle murdered by a man who did less than 9 years for his first murder, and he killed my uncle within 3 months of release….that was over 10 years ago, and my family has still not recovered
What’s surprising? 30 years of degenerate socialist liberalism have given us a legal system…not a justice system.
Life is cheap in the low self worth culture of depraved socialism/collectiveism. A citizen is deemed to have a self destructive alturism to the state…willing to lay your life down unquestioningly to the sacred dogma of the anthill society.
This dovetails nicely into the thread yesterday on the fountainhead…about a culture of ethical egoists who hold ethical self interest and self value who will see a crime on another individual as heinous…egoists exude empathy for someone deprived of the rare and treasured gifts of life, good health, freedom and self determination.
In collectivist anthill society under a low self esteme motive where everyone is expendable to the machinations of the state….we see empathetic, equalizing “justice” degnerated to such as this…a murderer relesed after a year in confinement…it signals the state does not value the life of its citizens…all that matters to the collectivist anthill state is the degree of obedience you pay the state ( obviously this murderer did all the right bowing and scraping to the right drones of the state to assure them he was a loyal rule follower once again…this motive in rehabilitation precludes the de,amds of civil justice)….this state cares little for the losses of its citizens or providing a “equalizing” empathetic justice system…all that matters is the high priests of the LEGAL SYSTEM not be questioned.
Hmm. Smishek.
Any relation to the the former politico?
Sentenced to only 3 and a half years for murder, and out in less than a year? Yep. Our justice system. Hard at work to protect and serve the guilty, and ignore the victims.
3 1/2 years for ambushing (pre-meditation should = Murder in the 1st folks) and killing another human being with a cricket bat! Welcome to Liberal Land. Yup, and about 1/3 of Canadians still support this party?
Power does not corrupt men; fools, however, if they get into a position of power, corrupt power.
~ ~ ~ George Bernard Shaw
Last spring a young mother was killed in Swift
Current by a drunk driver who was driving while his driver’s license was suspended. The defense cut a deal with the prosecution for a 30 month sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. He cannot drive for 3 years after his release. He will probably serve less than a year before being released on parole. He had previous DUI convictions and license suspensions.
The judge went along with this plea bargain. Its called a “joint submission” and the way I understand it, if the defense and prosecution agree on such a deal the judge “must” go along with it unless he/she finds that the public interest is not being served. How this judge ever came to conclusion that this “deal” serves the public interest is completely beyond comprehension. We, the public, are stuck with the deal as the prosecution, having agreed to the deal, cannot now appeal the sentence.
The sentence caused outrage on the part of the victim’s family as well as in the community at large. There are many letters to the editor of the local papers (Booster and Prairie Post). There is one especially poignant letter from the estranged husband of the victim writing on behalf of their daughter who had no one to give a Mother’s Day gift to last Sunday. The prosecutor in this matter should have his sorry ass fired. This lawyer belongs in private practice where his incompetance will soon lead him to bankruptcy. Who needs a defense lawyer when we have prosecutors like this idiot.
I am going to speak with my MP on this. There is no way that our courts should be allowed to treat this horrible waste of life with such callous indifference. I hope others will do the same.
Seems like tax evasion is considered a more serious crime in Canada than murder.
Why all the indignation when Robert Latimer, no prior convictions and no risk of re-offending rots in prison for 6 years and two more to go.
A Sask farm boy with no friends apparently. I am ashamed of Sask people who allow this travesty to continue.
Stockwell Day should lhave compassion and get this man pardoned. Where is his christianity? The man who took out Preston, god help us when we have these idiots in power.
An easy way to punish killers and still keep the prison population low. Bring back the death penalty.
could u imagine the wobbling if the CPC even mentioned the death penalty….what would all those bleeding heart social workers do if we started to execute their client base….tsk tsk
I remember this case. These two had attacked another individual earlier in the evening. He survived. A the time of sentencing it was reported that the mother said that one life had already been ruined (killed) so why would the courts want to ruin her son’s by sentencing him to a long period in prison?
Contrast this with a caser that occurred in Oahu on the North shore about the same time. Three young offenders were breaking into a cabin when the owner surprised them. One of the YOs pulled out a gun and shot the owner. Eventually, all three were arrested. One of them cut a deal and testified against the other two. They were all tried in criminal court as adults. The sentence for the one that testified was twenty years to life, eligible for parole after ten. The other one got thirty with parole after twenty and the shooter got life no parole.
Which one sends the right message to society? The Saskatoon case or the Hawaiian one?
Neil, it’s pretty obvious that you don’t live in Saskatchewan. There was a lot of effort put into the Latimer case and a lot of debate about it. In the end, however, unless one storms the penitentiary, you must settle for the decisions that are rendered.
And note – the opinion was by no means unanimous. There were equally strong efforts by disabled groups to keep him there.
Along similar line..a young Mom of three,killed in Wpg.this past wk-end by 2 idiots driving a stolen van.This ‘accident’was so horrendous,Mom thrown clear of her van,and the homeowners that went to try and help her,talked about how her head was ‘crushed’ and she was lifeless..they also worked to rescue the 2 a-holes in van..witnesses also stated that another passenger in stolen van took off running from scene.These homeowners risked their lives with home fire extinguishers to put fire out in stolen van..saved these idiots lives.I’m thinking they should have left them to their own little ‘hell’No charges laid yet.Wpg has become a real hellhole,and the car thefts keep piling up.People asked,’what is it going to take,to clamp down on this problem..an innocent person getting killed?’Well,it HAS happened,a Mom of 3,on her way to work the early shift,and I blame the inaction,and the lax ‘justice’system on this tragedy.
I won’t trust the government to wash my car, needless to say the death penalty. If the present judges and prosecutors can’t deal with incarcerating criminals, why on Earth do you think they will correctly and justly apply death sentences? Over my dead body, so to speak :/
Another gun murder prevented by the long gun registry.
I won’t trust the government to wash my car, needless to say the death penalty. If the present judges and prosecutors can’t deal with incarcerating criminals, why on Earth do you think they will correctly and justly apply death sentences?
I generally support the death penalty in principle. However, Aaron, you have just given the best reason for NOT bringing it back.
So why don’t the Conservatives fix the system? Supposedly they are supposed to be a party that is tough on crime so lets see the bills come to fix the system. If the Liberals are against the changes, let the Conservatives make this an election issue. It’s the only issue where I actually might agree with the Conservatives on, so I’m surprised that they are more interested in touchy feely green stuff that they aren’t really that interested in anyway, than bringing out the big guns on crime.
Some people think this wouldn’t play in the big cities. I don’t know if I’d agree with that. Toronto has a lot of gang crime going on and if the Cons focused on that, maybe they’d earn some cred in the red city.
Some creep gets a 3 1/2 year sentance, serves less than 1 year but leftards will tell you “crime is going down so the system works” without mentioning the aging of society and the fact that if you’re the victim, do you really give a s**t that the overall crime rate is down?
Leftards are scum who can’t empathise with those who are attacked by their friends.
Mr.Trudeau changed the justice system to give lawyers the same access to public money that state medicare gave to the doctors.The death penalty was NOT eliminated for compassionate reasons but rather to provide an endless stream of money to the legal system.If compassion had been the aim then the victim and the resulting effects on their loved ones would have been the paramount goal.
So why don’t the Conservatives fix the system? (Todd)
Aaah, but in a minority government, this is proving nearly impossible, given the leftist leaning of the opposing 3 parties.
“Mr.Trudeau changed the justice system”
and his druggy ex wife uses his constitution and 5 years of court time to beat her DUI charge.
Poetic justice, for the lotus eaters.
Another reason that I now carry this. Screw all you fascist commie gun control wackos. YOU are the GUN NUTS.
Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six.
Alienated – You didn’t read my comments at all. If crime is as bad as it is, and people are getting off too lightly, the Cons should make it an election issue and even make it a confidence vote. Why shouldn’t the party run a ‘tough on crime’ campaign? If the Liberals and other parties are too weak on crime, the Cons should go with their strength and make it an issue.
Todd, there is no logic in your proposal.
… the Cons should make it an election issue and even make it a confidence vote…
The question is ‘why’!!!
Aaron – Ummm because if people are getting off too lightly and there’s this feeling across the country that they are, wouldn’t being tough on crime win the Cons votes and get them a majority?
“The national parole board says Smishek has no prior criminal record, and is at a low risk of re-offending.”
Unless he has a cricket bat and gets pissed off?
where can one lay this bet!!!
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/05/14/climate-billion.html
nothing like the cold hard facts and guestimates to cut the price in halfll
different Bob said: “Last spring a young mother was killed in Swift
Current by a drunk driver who was driving while his driver’s license was suspended. The defense cut a deal with the prosecution for a 30 month sentence in exchange for a guilty plea. He cannot drive for 3 years after his release. He will probably serve less than a year before being released on parole. He had previous DUI convictions and license suspensions.”
I hear ya..this is where the Canadian criminal justice system fails us…all the feds have to whack a dangerous offender like this with is at best criminal neglegence or wreckless endagerment….plea bargaining trifles.
It’s sad to because a habitual drunk driver is truely a dangerous offender in much the same way as releasing a habitual mugger would be…just a matter of time till someone is hurt or killed.
In the US they cleverly designed a federal charge that can be used in cases like this…it’s called vehicular manslaughter…which can pull up to 15 big ones in a fed slammer.
Something similae is needed for Canada…maybe after they slame a few of thse vehicle murderers away for some real time, it will be a deterrent…if not a deterrent it is a way to make sure they will not be free to reoffend.
So why don’t the Conservatives fix the system?
They tried Todd. Remeber? Until the dippers/leftards/traitors in the other three parties watered it down so bad,it wasn’t worth the paper it was written on.Not to mention the old foggies club called the Senate.
“The national parole board says Smishek has no prior criminal record, and is at a low risk of re-offending.”
He would be at an even lower risk of re-offending if they kept him in prison for his entire sentence.
So why don’t the Conservatives fix the system? Supposedly they are supposed to be a party that is tough on crime so lets see the bills come to fix the system.
Exactly why dont they?
In an attempt to actually form a goverment so that we (westerners) could have input our own jurisdiction, our representation has sacrificed many of our core political values in an attempt to comprimise and appease the voters in Central and eastern Canada.
What shouldn’t be a suprise to anyone is that Central Canada will never let go of the teat that they have come accustom to suckling; and Western Canadians will not continue to support a party that doesn’t represent them.
What will be odvious to most Westerners within ten to fifteen years ( what I realized in Jr. High) is that the only solution to Western alienation is: Western Sovereignty.
I haven’t given up on Harper yet, but it seems to be time to start planning the next battle.
One of the under-reported facts in this case is that the accused received a slightly reduced sentence due to a rarely-used multicultural exemption, which in this case pertained to the fact that the murder weapon was a cricket bat, not a baseball bat.
WLM Redux, I direct your attention to the seldom used section 255(3) of the Criminal Code of Canada:
” (3) Every one who commits an offence under paragraph 253( a) and thereby causes the death of any other person is guilty of an indictable offence and liable to imprisonment for life.”
253(a) is impaired driving. We have a “vehicular manslaughter law in Canada but it is only very rarely used.
I guess I know where to go if I get the urge to kill…….
….again.