A street gang member is asking the Court of Appeals to review his life sentence, pleading that he shouldn’t be used as an example in response to Montreal’s rise in gun crime.
“The judge [n’avait] to stop anyone from committing a gun crime. She must make a fair judgment. I think it’s going too far,” Me Marie-Hélène Giroux, attorney for Hensley Jean, said Wednesday morning before the Quebec Court of Appeals in Montreal.
His 27-year-old client is the first criminal in the province to be sentenced to life in prison with no prospect of seven years’ parole on a single charge of attempted murder with a firearm. He will not be able to apply for release for seven years.
On June 3, 2019, the criminal, associated with the street gang Goon Squad and of Red ethnicity, opened fire on an innocent man in Saint-Eustache. It was a mistake about the person.
Luckily the victim escaped.
down the line
In December 2021, Judge Hélène Di Salvo found him guilty on all charges. She then sentenced him to an exemplary sentence.
The defense accuses the judge of deviating from the penalties provided for in such cases in order to set an example.
Me Giroux also argued that the motive for the crime was unknown and it was impossible for the court to link it to the scourge of the metropolis’ increase in firearms crimes between 2020 and 2022.
In addition, the defense alleged that Judge Di Salvo went the wrong way by dismissing Jean as a then-young age of 23 and ruling him “highly criminalized.”
“It’s very young to assess one’s chances of rehab. Absent,” she argued.
For his part, Chief Prosecutor Me Steve Baribeau reiterated that the court’s decision was “fair”.
“It’s not because the judge didn’t consider all the evidence because she imposed a maximum sentence,” he reasoned.
If that file didn’t merit a life sentence, “in what case can we do that?” Me Baribeau also asked.
Jammed Gun
In addition, he does not believe that the defendant’s age should have any bearing on the verdict.
“Unfortunately, there is no prospect of rehabilitation. We could see a crescendo [sa] Crime. From petty theft to happy killer.”
“Lucky killer” because the only reason the victim would have survived was because Jean’s gun jammed when firing.
“Everything is there except finality,” the prosecutor hammered out multiple times in reference to first-degree murder.
– The Court of Appeal accepted the case for deliberation.
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