A woman convicted in a series of local armed robberies should serve five years in prison, Crown counsel argued last week in a Nelson courtroom.
In December, a jury convicted Krista Kalmikoff of two counts of robbery, two counts of possessing stolen property worth over $5,000, and failing to stop for police.
The charges stemmed from hold-ups at the Nelson and District Credit Union and Kootenay Currency exchange in the spring of 2014. Kalmikoff was acquitted of one count of knowingly having a restricted firearm in a vehicle.
Her co-accused, Andrew Stevenson, was sentenced to ten years in prison after pleading guilty to his role in the crimes.
Defence counsel Blair Suffredine suggested Kalmikoff should receive one to two years, arguing that although she was convicted, her involvement was limited.
“There was no direct evidence she did any more than wait in the car,” Suffredine said in an interview Monday.
“My argument was essentially that she was passive in the sense that she wasn’t expecting to drive a getaway car, she was expecting to drive home. Even if you assume she knew about the event, which obviously the jury did, she wasn’t actively planning to assist in any direct way.”
Kalmikoff is expected to learn her fate on May 24. She has been in custody since January when she was arrested for drug possession. She was convicted and sentenced to five days on each of two counts and later sentenced to 30 days for breaching her bail conditions.
Last week’s sentencing hearing also addressed whether the mandatory minimum sentence of four years in jail for robbery with a weapon should apply in this case.
Suffredine argued that it shouldn’t because while Kalmikoff was convicted of robbery, she was acquitted of knowing there was a gun in the vehicle.
The judge concluded there was some doubt whether the jury believed a gun was involved, so the mandatory minimum does not apply.
