R. v. Ransdell, 2019 BCPC 55

Citation: R. v. Ransdell 2019 BCPC 55 Date: 20190321 File No: 251560-1 Registry: Vancouver IN THE PROVINCIAL COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA Criminal Court REGINA v. KEVIN RICHARD RANSDELL ORAL REASONS FOR SENTENCE OF THE HONOURABLE JUDGE E. GORDON Counsel for the Crown: A. Toljanich Counsel for the Defendant: M. Beckett Place of Hearing: Vancouver , B.C.

Date of Hearing: March 21, 2019 Date of Judgment: March 21, 2019 [ 1 ] THE COURT: Kevin Richard Ransdell comes before the Court for sentencing on a charge of Breaching a Long-Term Supervision Order on March 13, 2018. [ 2 ] He was sentenced in Ottawa for very serious offences of Robbery and Unlawful Confinement. On November 9, 2012, he was sentenced and having been found to be a dangerous offender, the trial judge concluded that a long-term supervision order was more appropriate, and ordered that following his sentence, he would be released from the penitentiary on a long-term supervision order for a

period of ten years. [ 3 ] In the interim, having been sentenced in Ottawa and placed in a facility in Kingston, Ontario, he was concerned about his continuing involvement in criminality with the people he knew within the penitentiary there, asked to be placed in a form of segregation so that he would not be in contact with those associates, asked for a transfer as far as away as possible to the Pacific Region, was granted it, and went to serve his sentence in Kent Penitentiary. [ 4 ] His sentence expired on November 8, 2015, and he was released from custody on the long-term supervision order. [ 5 ] He breached it by consuming alcohol, and was arrested on February 27, 2016.

He was held for a period of time under suspension of the long-term supervision order, and then released again on March 23, 2016. [ 6 ] He went a significant period of time in the community, until September 20, 2017. He began using substances again, went unlawfully at large, and was arrested on October 11, 2017. [ 7 ] His long-term supervision order was again suspended for a period of time, and he was released on January 8, 2018.

The incident before me commenced on March 13, 2018. [ 8 ] He had not done well on the third release, was using substances, was apprehended a significant period of time later, May 29, 2018, and in effect has been in custody since the suspension of the long-term supervision order expired on July 25, 2018. He has been in a form of pretrial custody at the North Fraser Pretrial Services Centre ever since. [ 9 ] Mr. Ransdell comes before the court, 37 years of age.

He was born in the United States, in Florida, and had what can be described only as a tumultuous childhood. [ 10 ] His mother, obviously in love with his father, put up with a significant amount of abuse. She eventually left, only to find herself and her children kidnapped by the same individual, got away again, and then, due to difficulties, Mr. Ransdell sought out his father, was travelling across the United States by motor vehicle, when his father was arrested. Mr.

Ransdell was left -- I am going to say cruelly, by the arresting officers, not yet able to drive, in a desert in the State of Nevada. [ 11 ] He eventually did make it back to Canada, and grew up, eventually, with his mother. [ 12 ] His mom herself had significant substance abuse problems for a period of time, and that was obviously a lifestyle that Mr. Ransdell certainly was familiar with. His father did too, and in fact encouraged the drug use, and Mr.

Ransdell became a drug user with the assistance of his father at a very young age. [ 13 ] His father was a member of the Cherokee Nation, and I have to consider his indigenous status. What I do not know is whether individuals who are members of the Cherokee Nation suffered the same kind of government-authorized abuse that individuals in Canada did who were taken from their homes and placed in residential facilities.

I do know that there must have been something, because in the early 1970s, the organization with the acronym AIM, which stands for the American Indian Movement, began coming forward and seeking redress for the abuse. [ 14 ] So there obviously were cultural factors that put his father in the position he was in, and this was someone who as a young man grew up with both parents being substance abusers and one being a criminal.

Certainly he was born and grew up with both hands tied behind his back, and it is no surprise to anyone in the criminal justice system that he grew up to be a drug user who would commit crimes of violence. [ 15 ] The predicate offence was a very serious offence. As I said earlier, you take your victim as you find them, and he confined and robbed a woman in a vehicle whose husband had been a police officer and had been killed only a few months earlier in the identical circumstances.

I cannot imagine the terror that she felt, and it is that crime and that terror which caused the judge, in considering the psychiatric assessment that was before him, to make the long-term supervision order. [ 16 ] It appears that the only real concerns -- and I am not minimizing the concerns -- that have been before the parole board since his release on November 8, 2015, is substance abuse. [ 17 ] While people have to do something to get their drugs, there is no allegation and no concern from the Vancouver Police Department that he engaged in the kind of behaviour that he used to engage in., which is crimes of violence to obtain money.

That speaks well of him. [ 18 ] He slowly but surely has engaged in a significant maturation process. [ 19 ] The long-term supervision order will not expire until 2025, and it is a significant hold on Mr. Ransdell.

At some point in time, in the future, the parole board will determine when he can be released again, and where he can be released to. [ 20 ] He has told me that he believes that, due to his classification, he will have to be released to a community residential facility in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, but while in that facility, he can be assessed for a more appropriate facility for him that will deal with his psychological issues, as well as hopefully give him some integration into the Canadian indigenous community. [ 21 ] More significantly, over a period of time, Mr.

Ransdell has formed a relationship with a woman from New Brunswick who is not in any way connected with the criminal justice system, and appears to be, from all of the material that is before the Court, a positive influence on him, and a lovely woman. She has decided that she will move to Vancouver and expects to be here in July of this year. [ 22 ] Her -- I am going to say -- love for him is obviously a motivating factor to persuade the parole board again that he should be released but also to keep him away from crime.

[ 23 ] He is now on suboxone. He tells me that while he has been in custody since July, he has gained 100 pounds, which is significant, and it is obviously -- it is evidence that he is not putting a needle in his arm every day and taking illicit drugs while in the penitentiary. He knows that he cannot quit suboxone. He is familiar with his addictions, and he intends to remain on suboxone while out in the community. [ 24 ] He has been in a form of pretrial custody since July 25, 2018 which, with enhanced credit, he would be entitled to 357 days’ time served.

Crown counsel is seeking a sentence of 18 months for this offence, and defence counsel is seeking a sentence of one year. He effectively has served a year at this point in time. [ 25 ] Because this is Mr. Ransdell's first prosecution for breaching the long-term supervision order, and because all of the reports, while realistic about Mr.

Ransdell, speak of progress he has made in trying to live a life that does not involve criminality, I believe that the time that he spent in custody is sufficient punishment for this offence, and your sentence today, sir, will be one of 357 days’ time served, plus one day, which is today. [ 26 ] MR. TOLJANICH: Thank you, Your Honour. There is an administrative matter. Crown sought secondary DNA sample. [ 27 ] THE COURT: Oh, yes of course. [ 28 ] I am going to order, sir, that you provide a sample of your DNA. They will not take it again.

All this will do is extend the time that your DNA stays in the databank. [ 29 ] Do I have to order another weapons prohibition? [ 30 ] MR. TOLJANICH: No, Your Honour. Simply the -- no, I don't believe anything else is required. The long-term supervision order will cover everything else. [ 31 ] THE COURT: All right. [REASONS FOR SENTENCE CONCLUDED]