A Lacombe man reversed his plea for the second time and pleaded guilty to robbery in Red Deer provincial court on Monday.
Carl Wesley Johnston, 19, had previously pleaded guilty to the same charge but changed his mind last August and was to stand trial in Court of Queen’s Bench on Monday with co-accused Travis James Kastrukoff, 23, of Lacombe.
Crown prosecutor Maurice Collard told Justice Kirk Sisson that Johnston had changed his plea and his case was moved back to provincial court.
Provincial court Judge David Plosz accepted the guilty plea and ordered a pre-sentence report. Johnston is expected to be sentenced on Feb. 17.
Johnston was one of several young people charged in the July 17, 2010, beating and robbing of a 19-year-old man at a Lacombe park. The incident, which was described by the Crown on Monday as a “violent and savage beating,” was captured on video taken by another person.
About a 40-second portion of the video was shown to the court on a laptop. Angry shouts and swearing and demands for money could be heard on the video.
Collard said Johnston demanded money and took some cash from the victim.
Jury selection took place on Monday for Kastrukoff’s trial on a robbery charge, which is scheduled to begin today.
Several other people have already been convicted and sentenced in the attack, which happened after the victim was driven to the scene and then pulled out of a car and punched and kicked repeatedly.
Andrew Dennis Renaud, 19, of Lacombe pleaded guilty to robbery last December and was sentenced in May to 17 months in jail, in addition to the five months he had already served in custody for his role in the attack.
Last month, Brian Travis Ward, 21, was sentenced to two years in jail after pleading guilty to robbery.
Earlier this fall, an 18-year-old Lacombe girl was given a nine-month suspended sentence and ordered to perform 100 hours of community service when she pleaded guilty to obstruction for her role. She can’t be named because she was 17 at the time of the offence.