Pot-shop robber appeals conviction
Kevin Andrew Melanson, 52, led group in raid on Fredericton dispensary in 2019
A Sackville man found guilty after a jury trial earlier this year of robbing a marijuana dispensary in downtown Fredericton is seeking to overturn his conviction and vary his sentence.
Court of King’s Bench Justice Thomas Christie sentenced Kevin Andrew Melanson, 52, of Alice Street in Sackville, to 3½ years in prison in July on counts of robbery and unlawful confinement.
During his jury trial, court heard he led a robbery at Buddy’s Cannabis Clinic - a now-defunct, private marijuana dispensary on King Street in downtown Fredericton - on June 16, 2018.
Three other men and his wife, Christina Melanson, joined him in the caper.
Kevin Melanson, who was living in the Moncton area at the time, was determined to recoup a $25,000 investment he’d made in the pot shop.
The group made their intentions known violently and wouldn’t let the two employees at the business leave once they arrived, and they took items and equipment from the premises.
Lawyers Nathan Gorham and Adrian Forsythe filed a notice of appeal July 7 - the same day Melanson was sentenced - with the New Brunswick Court of Appeal, challenging both the conviction and the sentence imposed.
It asks the province’s top court to quash the conviction and to order a new trial, or in the alternative, to vary the offender’s sentence to a lesser term.
While the guilty verdict came from a jury, Melanson’s lawyers argue that Christie didn’t instruct the jurors properly on the law and the evidence, which is what gave rise to the allegedly faulty finding of guilt.
“The trial judge erred in determining that the defence of self-defence did not meet the ‘air of reality’ test respecting the robbery charge [or the unlawful confinement charge],” the notice of appeal states.
Other grounds of appeal cited in the document were contentions that Christie erred in how he addressed the issue of “party liability” - referring to the fact there were multiple participants in the incident - and that he gave the jury an “overly broad liability instruction.”
‘Sentence imposed is demonstrably unfit’
With regard to the prison sentence the trial judge imposed, Melanson’s counsel argues he didn’t give proper weight to the mitigating and aggravating factors in the case and erred in how he applied the parity principle.
Parity is a sentencing principle in Canadian criminal law that directs judges to impose similar sentences on similar defendants in similar circumstances.
Two other participants in the robbery - Christina Dawn Melanson, 43; and Chad Gerard, 45 - pleaded guilty to robbery and were each sentenced to three years in prison.
During the sentencing hearing, Forsythe argued for a lesser sentence for Kevin Melanson, but Christie questioned how the court could do that, given the facts that he was the mastermind behind the crime and that he lacked the mitigation of a guilty plea.
Melanson’s notice of appeal also argues the 3½-year prison term was excessive.
“The sentence imposed is demonstrably unfit,” it states.
Melanson’s prison sentence is on hold until his appeal concludes as well.
His lawyers successfully applied for him to be released on conditions pending its outcome, and that order was issued Oct. 16.
Among the conditions of Melanson’s release are to remain under house arrest at his Sackville home except for work, legal and medical appointments, court, hospital visits with his ailing wife, and Saturdays from noon to 5 p.m. for personal business.
He’s also required to report to the Sackville RCMP detachment by phone every Friday and to present himself at the door of his home for compliance checks whenever the police knock.
Second appeal
This marks the second time Melanson has been convicted of the robbery and challenged it in the New Brunswick Court of Appeal.
Like his wife, Melanson pleaded guilty to robbery in October 2019 and was sentenced to three years in prison.
However, he appealed that conviction, successfully arguing his guilty pleas weren’t voluntary due to the legal advice he received from his original defence counsel, Moncton lawyer Brian Murphy.
He served six months of that original three-year sentence before the New Brunswick Court of Appeal struck his guilty plea and ordered the case to be sent back to provincial court.
Melanson eventually retained Gorham’s firm to represent him, and he opted for a trial in the Court of King’s Bench before a judge and jury.
Ultimately, he ended up getting a longer sentence than he did the first time around.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.