By Lara Fominoff @LaraFominoff on Twitter

Lethbridge man receives three-year sentence for death of nine-month old Austin Wright

Dec 19, 2018 | 5:30 AM

LETHBRIDGE – The man responsible for killing nine-month-old Austin Wright in Lethbridge in April, 2016, was handed a three-year sentence, after pleading guilty to criminal negligence causing death. With two months credit for time already served, the sentence amounts to 2 years and 10 months in a federal penitentiary.

42-year-old Tyler Brian Hogan will also be prohibited from owning or possessing firearms for 10-years and will have to submit a DNA sample.

Hogan stood up in the prisoner box at Court of Queens Bench Tuesday, December 18, as Justice John D. Rooke read out the sentence.

Family members for both Hogan and Wright filled several rows on either side of the courtroom in anticipation of the sentence, including Wright’s mother, grandmother and uncle, and Hogan’s parents and sisters.

Over the course of three hours, in his decision, Justice Rooke went over the agreed statement of facts and later cited several cases of criminal negligence, manslaughter and aggravated assault relating to children and babies, and how portions of each case could relate to Austin Wright. There was, he noted, no uniform sentence for the crime committed.

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Justice Rooke explained that the sentence imposed should reflect the need to protect children, that it needed to send a message that children, especially one as young as Wright could not protect themselves or fight back.

“The accused knew that the child was sick and continuing to vomit and continuing to be sick,” he said. “That he, Hogan, was tired. And, in the language, it appears that he may have been frustrated or may have ‘lost it.’ On the other hand, he says he was trying to calm him down. I say rhetorically, how do you calm down a baby if it’s sick, by tossing it?”

Rooke also noted the four victim impact statements from mother Jasmine Wright and Susan Roth – the mother and grandmother of baby Austin, and statements written by the child’s father and uncle.

Aggravating factors in the case taken into account during the sentencing included Hogan’s decision not disclose information about the child’s death to medical officials or police, that he maintained a lie for three months until confronted by police, and that he didn’t call 9-1-1 for help for the child at any point, calling his actions a “wanton and reckless disregard for the safety of the victim.”

Rooke did note that Hogan ultimately pleaded guilty to his part in the child’s death and that his apology directly to the Wright family appeared sincere. Once Hogan’s role in the baby’s death was established, he also cooperated with police and had no prior related criminal record.

Outside of the courtroom, Crown Prosecutor Mac Vomberg simply told reporters that “it was a very sad case, and that’s all I’m going to say.”

Wright’s mother and grandmother also declined to speak to media, and handed out a statement reading, in part:

“We would like to thank the paramedics and ER doctors and nurses for trying hard to revive Austin Lucas Wright on April 28, 2016.

We would like to thank all(sic) the police force who were involved in investigating and preserving the integrity of this case. We would like to acknowledge the valiant efforts put forth by detectives Ryan Stef and Liam Breedon in their relentless pursue(sic) endeavoring to find the truth of exactly what happened to Austin.

We appreciate all the work and effort that Crown Prosecutor Mac Vomberg and paralegal Valerie Wallace, put on this case and for keeping us informed about the progress and procedures involved.

Now that this case is finally concluded, we are hopeful that our family may finally properly grieve. This has been an unbearable, tragic, loss for our family. We realize that there is nothing that is going to bring our sweet, little, precious baby Austin Lucas Wright back to us. We will never get ‘over’ this loss, but hopefully we will get through it and eventually find some peace.”

Outside of the courthouse, Defense lawyers Tonii Roulston and Andrea Urquhart said they were pleased with the outcome of the case.

“We started this process with a charge of second-degree murder which has a huge sentencing consequence. After negotiations with the Crown Prosecutor, Mr. Hogan entered a guilty plea to criminal negligence causing death, which takes him out of, of course a parole ineligibility range of 10-years.”

It’s not clear if Roulston will appeal the sentence, but said Hogan expressed remorse for the baby’s death and hoped to move on, along with the rest of his family.

Hogan will be taken to Lethbridge Correctional Centre for assessment and then will likely serve his time either at the Drumheller or Bowden Federal Institutions. 

(Lethbridge News Now)