Judge again rejects sentencing submission in shooting death of Ponoka man

“I am still of the view that an informed and reasonable public would view this as a breakdown in the administration of justice and the courts,” said Hunter.

“I am not prepared to accept a joint submission. However, if I am not prepared to accept that joint submission, then I must allow Mr. Campbell the opportunity to make an application to vacate his guilty plea.”

Hunter previously rejected a joint submission of seven years during Campbell’s last court appearance on Feb. 3.

Hunter’s directive means Campbell and Scrase need to determine whether they’ll move to vacate his guilty plea.

If Hunter accepted such an application, the matter would go to trial with a judge from another jurisdiction. Otherwise, Campbell’s plea would stand and he would be sentenced by Hunter.

Ring noted during sentencing submissions that the Crown faced the potential of a Charter application from the defense, which he admitted would have been risky for them had the case proceeded to trial.

“Was this intentional, or was there not enough evidence to suggest this was intentional?” Ring asked.

Scrase, meanwhile, pointed out the Crown was also unable to provide a statement from a key witness to the shooting – a critical piece of disclosure they were unable to obtain in a timely manner from police in Lacombe.

“You never know what’s going to happen when a case goes to trial,” said Scrase. “The Crown couldn’t prove an essential element to this case. It is objectively clear that there was no subjective intention on Campbell’s behalf to discharge the firearm into Mr. Kraft. It was always a manslaughter situation.”

Caitlin Kraft, Jeffery Kraft’s sister, says her family is very grateful for Hunter’s outlook on the matter and apparent desire for a stronger sentence.

“It puts a little more hope into the justice we are seeking for Jeff,” she explained outside court. “Every time court is done, we try to heal and then you don’t. If this were to be over, we could start to heal better, but since it’s not and there’s more time being sought for a sentence, I would relive this over and over just for more time.

“It’s exhausting,” she added. “It is crippling to have to relive everything. To go every day without my brother is very, very hard. My kids ask about him all the time. How do you explain stuff to kids?”

A group called Justice for All was at the courthouse Thursday to bring attention to the need for stronger sentences for those who commit serious crimes in Canada.

Spokesperson Linda Lauer of Ponoka suggests many offenders are simply put back into the community where they often reoffend.

“We know that there’s far too much of this happening. There needs to be a movement started where people are getting active and seeing what’s happening in our court systems,” she said. “Quit blaming the police for not getting the criminals into jail. We need to get the court systems themselves working with sentences that reflect the crimes.”

Like the Kraft family, Lauer also expressed her gratitude for Hunter’s rejection of the joint submission.

“To hear that there is somebody out there that’s standing up for victims is huge because there are so many rights for the offenders and the criminals. They seem to have more power in the courtroom than the family of the victim.”

Campbell’s co-accused, 22-year-old Amie Rogers, of Lacombe, saw her counts withdrawn last November following a preliminary hearing to determine if her case had enough evidence to go to trial.

Campbell’s case returns to court March 11.

by Sheldon Spackman

Judge again rejects sentencing submission in shooting death of Ponoka man

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