Jail isn’t automatic for officers convicted of assault causing bodily harm, judges say
The 30-day jail term imposed by an appeal judge on Const. Alex Dunn for assaulting a handcuffed woman at arrest processing was appropriate, the province’s top court ruled Wednesday.
And in their split decision, a three-member Alberta Court of Appeal panel agreed with counsel for the Calgary Police Association that jail isn’t automatic for officers convicted of assault causing bodily harm.
But all three agreed with lawyer Alias Sanders, who argued comments made by Dilts suggested conditional sentences for police officers who assault suspects no longer reflected society’s values changed the range of appropriate punishments, shouldn’t mean jail is automatic for abusive officers.
“Gratuitous use of force by a police officer, absent dangerous or rapidly evolving circumstances, threatens confidence in law enforcement and the rule of law,” Antonio and Martin wrote.
“A proportionate response by a sentencing court is required to assist in repairing the repute of our institutions. An inadequate response is likely to have the opposite effect.”
But they said that didn’t mean jail was required to meet that goal.
“To conclude, a police officer convicted of a gratuitous assault that results in injury stands in no better position than does any other citizen convicted of the same offence when it comes to sentence,” they wrote.
“A custodial sentence may well be called for and not always of such a nominal nature as that imposed by the appeal judge,” they said of Dilts’ ruling handing Dunn a 30-day jail term, a punishment she later stayed because of the passage of time and the fact he had already served his conditional sentence.
Dunn was originally handed a 30-day conditional sentence by Justice Michelle Christopher, which included 15 days of house arrest.
In finding Dilts erred in overturning the Court of Justice judge’s sentence, Slatter also concluded conditional sentences were still available in such cases.
“There is no rule that a custodial sentence is always mandatory, but there is also no rule that a custodial sentence is never appropriate,” he said.
“It has long been recognized that an assault by a police officer involves a breach of trust, and that detained persons, particularly when handcuffed, are in a vulnerable position. Denunciation and deterrence are the dominant sentencing principals,” Slatter wrote.
“It is appropriate for sentencing judges to reflect evolving societal values, so long as it is done consistently with the principles of sentencing found in the Criminal Code and the case law, applied fairly.”
Kafi later died of a drug overdose, and the assault and subsequent sentences have become a point of contention for members of the Black Lives Matter movement.