Court Briefs: Man gets 60 extra days for running out of court
By JEREMY APPEL on April 12, 2019.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com
A convicted methamphetamine dealer who ran out of the provincial courthouse after learning he would receive jail time has been sentenced to an additional 60 days custody.
Daniel Sparkes was sentenced last week to three years and nine months for possession for purposes of trafficking, in relation to police finding 25 grams of meth in his residence in June 2015.
On Thursday, he was sentenced as part of a joint submission with the Crown after pleading guilty to failure to appear in court in relation to fleeing his initially scheduled sentencing in July 2016.
According to the agreed statement of facts, Sparkes ran into a vehicle parked outside the building and was not arrested until three-and-a-half months later.
Defence counsel Scott Hadford said Sparkes works in the oil patch and is a meth addict.
Gackle sentenced
Ashley Gackle, who last week had his attempt to vacate a guilty plea quashed by Judge Dietrich Brand, was sentenced Thursday to 28 months in custody.
He had to waive solicitor-client-privilege to allow former counsel Stephen Bitzer to testify at the unusual April 9 hearing.
Gackle claimed he didn’t understand the sentencing implications when he pled guilty to possessing meth for the purposes of trafficking, which Brand didn’t find credible.
Bitzer had arranged a plea deal with the Crown where Gackle would receive a sentence of two years.
Gackle claimed he was under the impression the sentence meant he would be free in six-to-eight months, but Bitzer testified he told his former client he could be eligible for parole in that time span.
“I never gave him a solid date,” Bitzer said. “I wouldn’t be able to do that. I don’t control parole eligibility.”
With credit for time served, Gackle will serve 20 months in custody.
Sentencing adjourned for meth dealer mom
A woman who pled guilty to possessing meth for the purposes of trafficking and unlawful confinement was supposed to be sentenced Thursday, but had her matter adjourned to May 30.
Theresa Babitzke was arrested in late October, along with her son Matthew and Amanda Kaye, after an incident where they tied a woman up in a house where she was allegedly beaten, extorted and robbed.
Theresa’s sentencing was adjourned to provide lawyer Tracy Hembroff time to review her pre-sentencing report.
Hadford appeared in provincial court Thursday on behalf of Kaye, where her matter was adjourned to April 25 to provide counsel time to meet with her in a Calgary drug treatment centre before officially signing on as her lawyer.
She has yet to enter pleas to charges of robbery, unlawful confinement, extortion and assault with a weapon.
Matthew was sentenced to six months in jail last week after he pled guilty to unlawful confinement.
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