More prison time for pot-shop robber
Kevin Andrew Melanson, 51, of Moncton, successfully appealed prior conviction for crime only to get longer sentence second time around
A Moncton man who successfully appealed his conviction for leading a robbery at a pot dispensary in downtown Fredericton five years ago ended up getting a longer sentence.
Kevin Andrew Melanson, 51, of Moncton, appeared before Court of King’s Bench Justice Thomas Christie at the Burton Courthouse on Friday for his sentencing hearing.
A jury found him guilty after trial late last year of robbery and unlawful confinement.
The charges stemmed from a robbery plan he hatched and led at Buddy’s Cannabis Clinic on King Street in downtown Fredericton on June 16, 2018.
Court heard Melanson had invested $25,000 in the now-defunct business and was determined to get his money back, so he, his wife and three other men drove from the Moncton area to Fredericton to take what they could of the business.
“He wanted his investment back in one form or another,” Christie said Friday, noting his and his accomplices took product and equipment from the business on the date in question.
Melanson originally pleaded guilty to the robbery charge and was sentenced to three years in prison. But he appealed, arguing that his plea wasn’t voluntary due to bad legal advice.
The New Brunswick Court of Appeal struck the pleas and ordered a new trial, and the defendant opted for a jury trial in the Court of King’s Bench.
His defence argument was that he couldn’t rob the business of items in which he had an ownership stake, but the violence exhibited on security video footage sunk that claim.
Crown prosecutor Rebecca Butler argued Friday for a prison sentence of four to five years.
She was seeking 3½ to four years for the robbery, but a consecutive term of six to 12 months for the confinement.
The defendant’s wife, Christina Dawn Melanson, 43; and accomplice Chad Gerard, 45, of Moncton, both admitted to the robbery in separate proceedings in 2019, and they were each sentenced to three years in prison.
However, the prosecutor said, their guilty pleas were mitigating factors, and since Kevin Melanson went through trial on the charges, he didn’t have the benefit of the same consideration.
Furthermore, she argued, he was the one who planned the crime and recruited the others to help him, and that means he should be looking at a longer prison term.
Butler said while the two crimes happened at essentially the same time, they were distinct offences that merited consecutive sentences.
Defence lawyer Adrian Forsythe countered that Melanson had already served enough time for the crimes thus far.
He previously served six months of his original sentence in prison, plus another five months in the community on parole and subject to conditions. Furthermore, Forsythe noted his was remanded for several months this year to ensure that his pre-sentence report was done after he initially failed to co-operate with probation services on it.
A remand formula of 1½ days’ credit for each day served in prison, on parole and on remand should be applied, the defence lawyer said, and that was enough time to satisfy the principles of sentencing, even though it didn’t come to three years.
Forsythe agreed his client lost the mitigation of guilty pleas, but he reminded the court that pleading not guilty is not to be seen as an aggravating factor in sentencing.
Butler had noted the New Brunswick Court of Appeal had directed lower courts to impose prison terms of three to eight years for robbery, even for first-time offenders such as Melanson.
Christie questioned how the court could impose a lesser sentence given to Gerard and Melanson’s wife, given the parity principle and the defendant’s greater culpability at having organized the robbery.
“How could it be less?” the judge asked.
Forsythe said Gerard was the one who perpetrated the most serious violence during the robbery, and the other three-year sentences were the result of joint recommendations.
There’s no such joint recommendation in Melanson’s case this time, he said, so the court was able to opt for less time.
Furthermore, he argued that Melanson has been penalized in other ways over the course of the case. His client contracted a MRSA infection while in Dorchester Penitentiary when serving his original sentence, and it’s believed he passed that infection onto his grandchild.
Melanson has abstained from drugs since 2020, Forsythe said, and he’s suffered great financial difficulties since the case began.
Court also heard that Melanson’s wife is hospitalized with serious health issues, and that the offender has lost out on the chance to support his son as he embarks on a career in professional hockey.
Furthermore, Melanson used to make his living in offshore oil drilling, and his conviction has proven to be an obstacle to allow him to travel internationally to continue in that career.
Butler argued those issues are unfortunate, but they’re all part of the regular ups and downs of life, and don’t amount to exceptional circumstances that would justify a lesser sentence.
Christie said video played for the jury showed Gerard grabbed one of the victims, Justin Comeau, in a chokehold, causing him to almost pass out.
“He feared for his life and it is evident why he did so,” the judge said of the victim.
While it was Gerard who did that to the victim, he said, it was Melanson’s plan that led to those actions. Furthermore, Christie said, Melanson was caught on video grabbing the other victim, Brandon McVicar, and dragging him back into the shop when he tried to flee.
Comeau also sustained an injury to his knee in the robbery, the judge said, and he couldn’t walk unassisted for six months.
“These are serious charges … He has not accepted responsibility, as far as I can see, for the crimes committed,” Christie said.
“The court has to keep its focus on deterrence and denunciation.”
He said the court can’t let people think undertaking a criminal operation such as this one is lawful or not as serious as it truly is.
Christie imposed a total prison term of 3½ years - six months longer than the one Melanson got when he pleaded guilty in provincial court.
The judge also rejected the defence’s request for enhanced remand credit, and instead ordered that the sentence be reduced by one day for each day Melanson served in prison, on parole and on remand.
He also ordered the offender to submit a DNA sample for inclusion in a criminal database, to have no contact with the victims during his sentence, and to refrain from possessing firearms and other weapons for 10 years following his release from prison.
Melanson must also pay $400 in victim-fine surcharges.
Christie said the paths chosen in the case were unfortunate.
“I sense that it could’ve and should’ve gone differently for everyone involved,” he said.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.