The continuation of a sentencing hearing in the Ronald Fowler attempted murder case has once again been adjourned.
Fowler, who was convicted by a jury on March 15 for the Oct. 14, 2017 attempted murder of his neighbour George Parent, was scheduled to appear in B.C. Supreme Court July 29 for a continuation of the hearing from May 10.
At the May hearing Prosecutor Paul Backhouse asked for a sentence of nine to 10 years in prison. The defence proposed the minimum sentence of four years.
READ MORE: Jury finds Fowler guilty of attempted murder
At the end of the day, two outstanding issues remained. The first was the defence needed more time to submit further information on Fowler’s wife’s health concerns as the defence argued she is dependent on her husband for both financial and emotional support.
The second was a dispute over the forfeiture order. Joseph McCarthy, Fowler’s attorney, said the guns are not Fowler’s to forfeit because they belong to his wife. The Crown admitted no ownership evidence was presented at trial, but argued it doesn’t matter because they are eligible for forfeiture under the Criminal Code.
A continuation had been set for June 10, but that was adjourned until Monday and now has been put off until Sept. 10.
The Crown based its sentencing recommendation on the range of sentences in case law for attempted murder in which the offender had a limited criminal record and no underlying criminal activity for the act.
Backhouse argued there were several aggravating factors including: that Fowler was carrying a loaded, prohibited handgun with which he shot Parent at close range with the intent to kill; that it was sheer luck Parent had not been killed because the first shot to the chest happened to hit the victim’s cell phone; that Fowler fired multiple times; that the gun was never found, nor given up, posing an ongoing threat to the public; and that the incident had caused Parent ongoing physical and emotional trauma.
The Crown admitted certain aspects of a pre-sentence report were mitigating. Backhouse said the fact Fowler’s prior criminal history was dated and that the man had the strong support of his wife demonstrated some degree of rehabilitation potential.
However, Backhouse said, that potential is muted by the fact Fowler continues to deny responsibility for the shooting and lacks empathy for the trauma caused to the victim.
The prosecutor also submitted a victim impact statement from Parent in which the victim describes continuing physical limitations to his recreational and work activities, lost income and lingering emotional effects.
The Crown said even if the judge accepts the defence position that the confrontation between the two men had been happenstance and Fowler had not formed the intent to shoot Parent until the time of the incident, evidence had been presented at trial that some degree of planning had been involved.
In his submissions McCarthyby highlighted his client’s personal circumstances. McCarthy said Fowler’s wife “suffers from a concatenation of serious health issues” and relies on her husband for both emotional and financial support.
The defence argued that the sentencing determination is complicated by the fact Fowler was found guilty by a jury primarily on evidence provided by only two people, the accused and the victim, who told very different stories.
In a nutshell, Parent testified Fowler snuck up on him while he was stopped to retrieve a piece of rope and without warning fired at him point blank three times.
Fowler, on the other hand, said it was Parent who snuck up and pointed a shotgun at him. He said he had been carrying the handgun because he was afraid of Parent and shot in self-defence.
READ MORE: Fowler sentencing set for May 10
McCarthy said there was no way of knowing how much of either man’s testimony the jury believed or disbelieved and, therefore, there is “a broad gradient of depravity” on Fowler’s part on which the jurors might have come to the conclusion of guilt.
He described this gradient by saying Fowler’s culpability could be anything from “extremely depraved” or that the shooting was “in cold blood” all the way up to he truly believed he was acting in self-defence, but used unreasonable force under the circumstances.
Not knowing where on the gradient the actual facts of the case lie according to the jury’s deliberations, McCarthy argued, means the judge must draw his own conclusions about the facts.
He said case law, of which he submitted several examples, makes it incumbent upon the judge to assume the jury took the most lenient path to the guilty verdict. Thus, he said, the judge must apply the criminal standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt” to any fact that discredit Fowler while treating any fact to his client’s credit with the civil standard of “on the balance of probabilities.”
Based on those principles, McCarthy said, simple logic would dictate the judge should adopt the most lenient version of the facts and thus the appropriate sentence would be the minimum of four years.
Justice David Masuhara will set a date for his sentencing decision at the Sept. 10 continuation.
With files from Trevor Hewitt
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