As Elliot Reid-Doyle lay helpless and wounded in the parking lot of a Scarborough strip mall, Amal Jones pumped another bullet into the young man’s back before fleeing the scene.
Shot three times — twice in the back — during the busy Oct. 3 lunch hour at a plaza at Bonis Ave. and Birchmount Rd., Reid-Doyle would become homicide #83 of 2018, just three days after his 18th birthday.
Jones, also 18, was charged with second-degree murder for the brazen daylight slaying of a stranger.
But he will not be doing life in prison or even 10 years.
Instead, the first-time offender, who pleaded guilty in May to the lesser charge of manslaughter, has been sentenced to eight years behind bars.
With pre-trial credit, including enduring lockdowns during COVID-19, Jones has four years and 10 months remaining.
He could be eligible for parole in just over a year and a half.
What a lucky young man he is.
Jones insisted he’d been provoked that day, that Reid-Doyle and his two friends had been eyeing his gold chains when he entered a pizza shop and when they followed him out to the parking lot, he feared he was about to be robbed at gunpoint — though no firearm was actually produced.
“I accept that the provocation here was based upon the actions of the deceased and his friends who, it is clear to me based on the pizza store video and what subsequently happened, were looking to either rob or assault Mr. Jones,” agreed Ontario Superior Court Justice John McMahon.
“The fact that the provocation was an attempted robbery in no way justifies the accused’s actions, but it reduces what otherwise would be murder to manslaughter.”
How difficult that must be for the victim’s family to accept.
McMahon began his virtual sentencing by decrying the all-too-familiar tragedy of it all.
“This is yet another case of gun violence which led to the senseless killing of a young man who was 18 years of age, whose family is devastated and that family will never be the same,” he said.
“Another young man of 18, with no criminal record, will be sentenced today to the federal penitentiary. His aspirations of a college basketball scholarship to the United States is gone. He and his family are also devastated — all because he elected to walk the streets of this city with a loaded firearm.”
The judge had little time for Jones’ excuse that he began packing an illegal semi-automatic handgun for self-defence after his friend was murdered.
“There is no lawful reason for someone to carry a loaded handgun on the streets of Toronto. This court cannot and will not sanction as a mitigating factor people carrying handguns for self-defence,” McMahon said.
Jones opened fire “indiscriminately” in a strip mall parking lot in the middle of the day, the judge said, and even as Reid-Doyle and his friends were running away.
“It is also clear in the video that when the deceased is on the ground, he gets shot again in the back,” McMahon continued.
“The man was completely defenceless and Mr. Jones elected to shoot him again.”
Reid-Doyle’s parents and siblings are shattered, his sister even suffered a miscarriage, the judge said.
“I do accept the terrible impact this senseless killing has had upon on the deceased’s family as an extremely aggravating factor.”
But McMahon was impressed by many factors in Jones’ favour: he pleaded guilty early, he’s remorseful and apologized to his victim’s family, he’s completed 23 certificate programs while in custody, including anger management, and scored 89% on his first college course towards a diploma in business management.
Sentences for aggravated manslaughter range from eight to 12 years, the judge said, and with his high prospects of rehabilitation, a fit term for Jones would be at the lower end.
With credit for his 21 months in pre-trial custody, under “unacceptable” lockdowns and during the emotionally-trying pandemic, his sentence was reduced by three years and two months.
Jones has been given the gift of a second chance — we can only hope he doesn’t squander it.
Please share this
No comments:
Post a Comment