Advocate staff
A Rocky Mountain House man’s appeal of his 22-month prison sentence has been denied.
Tyler James Shaw was convicted in Red Deer provincial court in September 2015 of unauthorized possession of a firearm, break and enter to steal a firearm, possession of a firearm contrary to a previous prohibition order, and theft under $5,000.
Shaw, who had 43 prior criminal convictions, was sentenced to prison and given a 20-year firearms prohibition by Judge Darrell Riemer. He was also required to provide a sample of his DNA to a national database.
He was arrested in September 2014 by RCMP responding to a report of a break-in at a rural home in Red Deer Country. A quad and a shotgun were reported stolen.
An RCMP officer came across Shaw almost by accident. He was sitting on a quad with two long-barrelled firearms under his legs. The officer drew his gun and ordered Shaw off the quad and onto the ground and he was arrested.
Shaw’s conviction was appealed on three grounds, all of which were dismissed by the three-judge appeal court panel last week.
A lawyer for Shaw argued that the Crown prosecutor did not prove that a break and enter had occurred, that the possession of the firearm was by theft, or that the reasons for the conviction were unclear.
“Based on the reasons and record, Mr. Shaw would not be left in any doubt why a conviction had been entered, the decision is more than reasonably intelligible to the parties and it has provided the basis for meaningful appellate review,” writes the panel in its decision.