Randall Hopley will have to wait to hear his sentence after completing a 60-day assessment to determine if he is a dangerous or long term offender.
On October 15, counsel for Hopley, William Thorne and Crown Counsel Lynal Doerksen asked to put the matter over to November 19 to set a new date for the continuation of his sentencing hearing in Cranbrook Supreme Court.
Hopley was remanded into the custody of the Forensic Psychiatric Services Commission for 60 days on August 9. Should he be deemed a dangerous offender (DO), Hopley could be imprisoned indefinitely. He has pleaded guilty to abducting three-year-old Kienan Hebert in September, 2011.
Should Hopley be granted dangerous offender status, he would join a line of notorious Canadian criminals. The status delivers an indefinite sentence, and is the toughest punishment available to Canadian Crown counsel.
In stunning video testimony played in Supreme Court on July 18, Hopley admitted to police that he abducted the boy from his Sparwood home in September, 2011. The father of the boy, Paul Hebert, also appeared in the video evidence, counselling the man who abducted his child and offering help.
Hopley pleaded guilty to two charges from the abduction and charges relating to a break and enter in Alberta two years ago.
He is charged with breaking and entering with intent to commit an indictable offence, break and enter and commit an indictable offence, and possession of stolen property over $5,000 stemming from an incident in the Crowsnest Pass in May 2010.
