Crown wants 18-month sentence for former Nationalist Party of Canada leader convicted of assault
Jennifer Francis | CBC News | Posted: July 21, 2022 12:05 AM | Last Updated: July 21, 2022
Travis Patron found guilty on Jun. 24 of 2 counts of assault causing bodily harm
The Crown prosecutor has suggested Travis Patron be sentenced to 18 months of incarceration, but the sentencing decision won't come until Aug. 23.
Patron, the former leader of the now-defunct Canadian Nationalist Party, was found guilty last month of assaulting two women in November 2019.
Justice Beverly Klatt said she wanted time to review the victim impact statements before making her final sentencing decision.
The statements were from the two victims. One suffered a fractured wrist and the other sustained a concussion due to the assault. Crown prosecutor Ryan Snyder said the woman who had a concussion missed nearly three months of work.
Snyder said he believes 18 months is an appropriate sentence for Patron, as the sentence would be on the "top end" for assault causing bodily harm and Patron has a "relatively minor" criminal record.
"We specifically declined to ask for probation to follow that just based on the notion that Mr. Patron was unlikely to agree with any terms," he said.
Since Patron has been in custody since March 2021, after an unrelated disturbance at the Redvers legion hall, an 18-month sentence would mean Patron would not have to serve any additional time, as it would include time served.
"As a matter of law, he's got to go into the DNA databank because of the nature of the offence, and he's got to get a firearms prohibition for 10 years because of the criminal code," Snyder said.
Patron represented himself at last month's jury trial and again at Wednesday's sentencing hearing.
He failed to suggest a sentence to Justice Klatt, and also did not answer many of her questions about his personal life and what events may have brought him to the assault.
When asked by Klatt if he feels remorse for the assault, Patron said "that is between me and God." Klatt pointed out to Patron that sometimes a judge might take remorse from the accused into account when deciding a sentence.
Patron did answer some of Klatt's questions about his past education, saying he had graduated from the University of Saskatchewan in 2014 with bachelor's degrees in commerce and economics.
When asked what he did after graduation, Patron said he "prefer[ed] not to say" where he worked.
Klatt asked if there were any programs Patron might find beneficial in making sure he was not responsible for another assault, such as anger management.
"I would say that I have a satisfactory control over my emotional state," he said.
Snyder said it is "unusual" for someone to represent themselves during a jury trial and that this was the first time he has been involved in such a case.
"Mr. Patron is not doing himself a favour by representing himself, there are many good criminal defence lawyers in this city and he could use their assistance," Snyder said.
Snyder said Patron has undergone a mental health assessment in relation to another charge in provincial court and that it did not show anything specific in terms of mental health concerns.
"I think Mr. Patron issues more fall into questionable ideology as opposed to mental health issues."