Indigenous man who cleaned up after murder bragged Gladue ‘discount’ would half his sentence
An Indigenous man who bragged to an undercover cop about the Gladue “discount” that would cut his penalty in half for helping to clean up after a Calgary murder has been sentenced to 6.5 years in prison, even though the Crown was looking for as much as 10.
A jury convicted Jason Leo Tait of being an accessory after the fact to murder in the death of Keenan Crane. He was acquitted of manslaughter.
“Mr. Tait’s cavalier reliance on a Gladue ‘discount’ in discussions with the undercover operator are not only wrong in law, but they are undoubtedly distressing to hear for Indigenous people, as well as other citizens, particularly those who have roles in the justice system,” Justice Janice Ashcroft wrote in her Feb. 17 decision on Tait’s sentence.
Gladue principles, set out in a Supreme Court of Canada decision, require sentencing judges to consider the unique circumstances of Indigenous offenders to address their over-representation in Canada’s prisons.
“It is undeniable that Mr. Tait’s life has been impacted by many factors related to colonialism and residential schools,” Ashcroft said. “His comments demonstrate a lack of insight and education into history and how his own family and life have been affected by colonization.”
His “life circumstances, as connected to his crime, do allow for some mitigation and reduced moral culpability with respect to sentencing,” she said. “However, I still find that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances.”
The court heard that Crane, 22, was a low-level drug dealer who owed $300 to Tait’s roommate, Darren Bulldog. On April 7, 2022, Crane showed up at Tait and Bulldog’s place, where Bulldog confronted him about the debt. Crane was beaten, his hands and feet duct-taped, and given a lethal dose of fentanyl. His body was then dismembered.
Tait was in the home where Crane was killed “from the beginning of the crime until the end,” Ashcroft said.
He “was also part of the group that surrounded” two witnesses to the crime “while another participant threatened” one of them with a knife, the judge said, noting that the witnesses “were asked to write down their addresses.”
Tait “purposefully cleaned up the blood from the murder site at his apartment, was part of a group that directed the moving of the body out of the apartment and the stealing of a vehicle, was part of a group that directed that the remains be driven to the lands of Mînî Thnî (a First Nation west of the city) and gave a false alibi,” the judge said.
The Crown argued that Tait, “as an Indigenous person,” should get eight to 10 years behind bars.
Tait’s lawyer recommended a four-year sentence.
Ashcroft pegged “the range for appropriate sentencing” to be between four and eight years in prison.
“Tait’s actions contributed to the disappearance of Keanan Crane’s body allowing Mr. Crane’s family to worry and speculate as to what had become of him,” said her decision. “This worry would have become agonizing over a lifetime had Mr. Crane’s remains never been found. Mr. Tait’s actions also contributed to the undignified disposal of Mr. Crane’s body. Further, leaving Mr. Crane’s body on the Mînî Thnî Reserve, particularly in the state it was, has harmed the Stoney Nakoda people.”
Tait’s “assistance” with disposing of the body “interfered with the administration of justice and made it easier for the principal offenders to escape punishment,” said the judge.
The “gravity” of his crimes “is high,” Ashcroft said.
Tait “had some history with Darren Bulldog, one of the principal offenders, but not a very long one,” said the decision.
Bulldog pleaded guilty to manslaughter last year and was sentenced to eight years in prison.
Noting that Tait is 35, Ashcroft said his actions “cannot be attributed to an immature spontaneous lack of judgment.”
Tait is a member of the Swan Lake First Nations in Manitoba whose childhood until age seven, was marked with instability and dislocation, said the judge. “I also accept that during this time he witnessed significant and continuing domestic violence perpetrated by and on his mother, who was also under the grips of addiction.”
From the age of seven until he turned 14, Tait “reported being raised by a stable, loving family until he became rebellious at which point he candidly acknowledged that his behaviour forced him out of that home,” said the decision. His “challenges with addiction and later homelessness began shortly thereafter.”
While the judge took Tait’s Gladue factors into consideration, she found his “degree of responsibility to be relatively high.”
The Crown argued Tait has “shown a disregard for accountability and remorse as demonstrated through his statements to the undercover officer, for example that his sentence would be cut in half because of the ‘Gladue law.’ Crown says that the Gladue principles are borne out of a debt to the Indigenous community which debt has long lasting repercussions for today. However, the Crown says that Mr. Tait is exploiting the Gladue considerations and undermining its principles.”
The judge accepted that Tait suffered serious neglect as a child.
He “also suffered the negative effects of intergenerational trauma as related to his mother’s family and the impact of the residential school system which, in part, resulted in her addictions and her own inability to care for Mr. Tait and her other children,” Ashcroft said.
The judge found that Tait’s “early addiction and reliance on drugs placed him in that house on the day of the crime. His actions, while not excusable in any way, must be viewed through the lens of a person who is Indigenous and who has experienced the early childhood experiences that Mr. Tait experienced.”
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