It’s unlikely that Chad Alphonse will be sentenced for the 2016 killing of his friend until at least the summer.
Alphonse was found guilty of the manslaughter death of Waylon Jackson at the end of March, but his sentencing date was awaiting the completion of a Gladue report, which his lawyer Terry LaLiberté requested at the time of the verdict. LaLiberté said in court Monday that the report has yet to be started.
There is somebody lined up to do the assessment, however, LaLiberté said his client will not be paying for it or even applying for aid to cover the cost so the process has been at a standstill.
A Gladue report takes, on average, six to eight weeks to complete and it contains recommendations to the court about what an appropriate sentence might be once factoring in the Aboriginal persons’ background such as: history regarding residential schools, child welfare removal, physical or sexual abuse, underlying developmental or health issues, such as FASD, anxiety, or substance use.
READ MORE: ALPHONSE FOUND GUILTY OF MANSLAUGHTER
Justice Alison Beames ordered a Pre Sentence Report on Monday, and that would add another six to eight weeks to the process. That process could also get the ball rolling for completion of the Gladue report.
Depending on the findings, Alphonse could be facing a wide variety of sentences.
LaLiberté said he may argue for the judge to hand down a conditional sentence, meaning no prison time.
“Locking another native person up in circumstances (like this) would be a tragedy,” said LaLiberté. “Another native guy going to jail… there are far too many already there.”
According to Statistics Canada’s most recent figures, Aboriginal adults in federal correctional services accounted for 28 per cent of admissions to custody and 26 per cent to community supervision.
The death of Waylon Jackson March 11 2016 is also a “tragedy,” said LaLiberté, but it was never murder.
“(Alphonse) is a very nice young fellow and this is a shock to his system,” said LaLiberté. “It was of-the-sudden. It was a friend of his and there was too much alcohol … thank God there weren’t guns around. There was a couple of knives lying around and they got used. (It was) a tragedy of alcohol.”
Since that time Alphonse has been an active participant of Vision Quest, a program created by the RCMP that provides education regarding the disease of addiction and the accompanying lifestyle.
Its aim is to help its clients to gain insight and direction towards individual change and a successful reintegration back into society, and LaLiberté said Alphonse is a “star” in the program.
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