Appeal from 4.5 year jail sentence following guilty plea to manslaughter. Issue as to whether trial judge erred in relying upon Small-Buffalo, 2009 ABQB 353, in imposing a 4.5 year, as opposed to 4 year, sentence. Also, an issue regarding a mathematical error in calculating pre-trial custody.
Held: Appeal allowed (in part).
Mathematical error corrected. “This Court will correct a Warrant of Committal which discloses an error in recording the sentence imposed: Cardinal, 2012 ABCA 102. Regarding the merits, appeal dismissed. “Crafting a sentence is not a process of looking through all of the sentencing precedents, and then selecting the one that is closest. The proper approach in determining a fit sentence for manslaughter was explained by the Court in Laberge, 1995 ABCA 196. An “arithmetical method” is to be rejected in favour of a full analysis of moral blameworthiness.
A. Simic, Defence Counsel