Killer of Calgary police officer highly susceptible to peer pressure

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Ship the youth who Calgary police Sgt. Andrew Harnett to a federal jail sentence is not going to bode properly for his rehabilitation, a psychologist testified Friday.

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Dr. Liam Ennis mentioned the offender, now 20, was simply influenced by friends and was more likely to “globe” on a detrimental group of people in a mature jail.

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“I’ve a tough time seeing hope for change if he goes via the grownup jail system,” Ennis advised protection lawyer Robert LaValley.

“I am much less hopeful if that is the way in which he goes.”

Prosecution pleaded that offender be sentenced to grownup imprisonment

Ennis gave proof earlier than Decide Anna Loparco, who’s being requested to determine whether or not the offender ought to be sentenced as an grownup, or obtain a sentence underneath the Juvenile Justice Act.

The convicted killer was simply 11 days shy of his 18th birthday when he fled a site visitors cease with Harnett desperately clinging to his driver’s door.

The offender sped down Falconridge Drive NE late within the night of December 31, 2020 earlier than he might dislodge the officer from the door and Harnett fell into the trail of an oncoming automobile.

Loparco discovered him responsible of manslaughter final fall and located that the perpetrator didn’t have the intent to commit homicide. As a result of his sufferer was an on-duty police officer, such a verdict would have meant a first-degree homicide conviction.

Boy turned to legal conduct by the age of 12 or 13, says psychologist

Ennis advised LaValley that his consumer had a turbulent upbringing and moved from county to county together with his mom and different siblings to flee an abusive father.

Consequently, he had hassle becoming in and making mates, the physician mentioned.

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Across the time he turned 12 or 13, he fell in with a detrimental peer group and ended up in legal conduct.

“He is what I name a failed joiner on the elementary college stage,” the psychologist mentioned.

“Over time he will get rejected, rejected and across the age of 13 he discovered his tribe,” Ennis mentioned.

“Sadly, the group he finds is already criminally concerned. They’re criminals, they’re a bit older than him and he jumps in with each toes.”

The physician mentioned that in a federal penitentiary, the impressionable killer can be positioned in a “very us-and-them setting.”

Ennis mentioned the difficulty in figuring out the offender’s rehabilitation comes all the way down to “how a lot publicity he’ll should dangerous influences, as a result of he’ll choose up on it fairly rapidly.”

Loparco will determine on Could 10 whether or not a mature sentence is suitable, earlier than the case is adjourned till Could 31 for full sentencing.

Crown prosecutor Mike Ewenson has already indicated that an grownup sentence within the vary of 11 to 13 years can be acceptable.

KMartin@postmedia.com

On Twitter: @KMartinCourts