WETASKIWIN — The reckless drive-by shooting of a toddler, preceded only hours earlier by a separate home invasion, has earned a Hobbema gang member 13 years in prison.
Christopher Shane Crane, 20, must serve another nine years in jail for the April 13, 2008, shooting and a home invasion and robbery on the Samson Cree First Nation reserve at Hobbema.
Crane was credited by provincial court Judge Thomas Schollie of Red Deer on Monday with four years in jail, based on the nearly two years he has served in remand, all but one day of it in solitary confinement.
Crane, who appeared angry for most of the sentencing process on Monday, pleaded guilty last March to aggravated assault, robbery with a firearm and two firearms offences.
Twelve other charges were withdrawn by Crown prosecutor Rod Clark, who sought a 14-to-18-year sentence at a hearing on Jan. 25.
Defence lawyer Harold Brubaker had asked for a sentence of time served based on a three-for-one formula because of the solitary confinement.
Crane fired one shot at a home on the Samson Cree in an attempt to intimidate rival gang members.
The shot struck two-year-old Asia Saddleback in the chest while she sat in the kitchen of the home.
Although she survived, the bullet lodged so close to her heart that surgeons didn’t try to remove it.
“It’s something that she’ll have to live with all the rest of her life,” Asia’s mother Candace said later.
She said the family will have to live with the sentence.
“This is something that we’ll never get over . . . ever,” she added.
Asia was full of energy, bounding around outside the courthouse with young relatives.
“She’s doing very well,” said Candace, who noted Asia turns four in May. “She doesn’t know what’s going on.”
The mother hopes the message is sent that “it doesn’t pay to be a gang member.”
The prosecutor said he hopes the sentence sends a message to the gang element in the Hobbema community.
“If anybody hasn’t been paying attention they should because this kind of that violence isn’t acceptable in any community,” said Clark.
Schollie said both serious offences required denunciation. “This was a very dangerous act. There were many children in the house,” the judge said.
Court heard earlier that Crane was upset with members of the Samson True Soldiers gang, claiming he was verbally and physically abused, so he fired the shot at the home in retaliation.
In the home invasion, Crane burst into a residence brandishing a sawed-off .22-calibre rifle, bashed the homeowner in the nose and fired a shot into a wall.
He was high on booze, marijuana and prescription drugs when he came with others to steal marijuana but left with just four marijuana cigarettes.
Court heard that Crane was attacked by a rival gang member his first day in the remand centre in Edmonton, so he was placed in a single cell where he was allowed out for just one hour a day.
Crane testified earlier that he had given up his colours with the Alberta Warriors gang.
Hobbema has been plagued by gang warfare for several years as an estimated dozen gangs fight for the drug trade.
Crane said he started drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana at age 11 because he was allowed to do whatever he wanted.
A 17-year-old who was also charged in the Saddleback shooting was convicted of aggravated assault and four other weapons charges in January, 2009. He was sentenced to time served plus an additional three months and a year of probation.
His identity is protected under terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
jwilson@www.reddeeradvocate.com