Tag: justice

The long, long, long, long rap sheet of the man who shot two Edmonton RCMP

rehn
RCMP have identified Shawn Maxwell Rehn, 34, as the deceased suspect who shot two RCMP officers in St. Albert Saturday morning. Rehn, a resident of the greater Edmonton area, was known to police before Saturday’s shooting. (Edmonton Sun)

Shawn Maxwell Rehn (above) is believe to have gunned down two RCMP officers in Edmonton over the weekend. Both were wounded. One is not expected to survive his injuries, the RCMP said Sunday. Rehn is believed to have killed himself after the shootings.

There are now lots of questions — including some from the RCMP — why Rehn was not behind bars given his very, very, very long record of convictions and the very serious nature of the charges he was facing even before the weekend shootings.

My Edmonton-based colleague Joshua Skurnik has just obtained Rehn’s criminal record and a list of the charges that were already outstanding against him.

First, the convictions: Continue reading The long, long, long, long rap sheet of the man who shot two Edmonton RCMP

Trudeau tweet provokes debate on mandatory minimums

The first one to take a kick at this week’s political football was Liberal leader Justin Trudeau, who said on Twitter on Sunday he would be prepared to reconsider some of the mandatory minimum sentence provisions brought in by the Harper government over the last few years.

Ok. Interesting idea. Tell me more. Which, in Trudeau’s view would be the most likely mandatory minimum sentence (hereinfter known as MMS) provisions to roll back?

He didn’t expand on this on Twitter, so I e-mailed Trudeau’s press people yesterday morning with this message: Continue reading Trudeau tweet provokes debate on mandatory minimums

Trudeau would re-think Harper's mandatory minimum sentences

Earlier this month, a judge in Kitchener, Ont. said he was “embarrassed” to do what Parliament had told him to do and levy a “victim surcharge” fine on those convicted of crimes.

Last month, a judge in Manitoba said the decision by Parliament (i.e. the Conservative majority) to impose mandatory miniumum sentences in all cases results in “cruel and unusual punishment” in some cases. The judge ignore Parliament’s wish and did not impose a mandatory minimum sentence.

Those two judges — and others who don’t like Parliament telling them what to do — have a friend in Justin Trudeau who, a few minutes ago on Twitter, responded to a question about mandatory miniumums this way: