Above All: For the Sake of the 'Common Good' Rejected

"I have determined that systemic and background factors have affected the degree of responsibility of this offender. Mr. Garlow is the personification of intergenerational trauma. I cannot imagine more sympathetic circumstances or mitigating factors that cry out for some compassion. Punishing him with a further period of incarceration for the sake of the common good would be unjust."

"This gun is obviously not intended for hunting anything other than human beings. It is designed to maim and/or kill in a spray of bullets. Simply brandishing it would cause sheer terror." 

"The Crown's cogent submissions accentuated the potential for death and destruction posed by the weapon that was in Mr. Garlow's possession. She urged the court to find that this gun was possessed for the purpose of committing crimes and was in contravention of an order intended to protect the public."

"There is an undeniable link between his criminal record and his experiences as an Indigenous person. In addition, the conditions of his detention at Central East Correctional Centre have been horrendous. He expressed understandable upset during previous appearances about the suffering he has endured while on remand." 

Justice Brenda Green, Ontario Court of Justice 

Justice Brenda Green cited "colonialism," "cultural genocide" in sentencing Jesse Garlow to time served.

 

"The Crown emphasized that Mr. Garlow was carrying a loaded firearm in a vehicle in public in suspicious circumstances along with a flame thrower and crow bars. This firearm was designed for one purpose, as a killing machine. Its possession is antithetical to the norms and values of Canadians."

"A strong message must be sent to deter like-minded individuals from carrying a loaded firearm by meeting out a significant punishment." 

Crown Prosecutor 

 

"Mr. Garlow's personal history is heartbreaking ... and that attenuates his moral responsibility for these crimes."

"[Garlow's] expressed remorse and his potential for rehabilitation especially with the support of resources for Indigenous people [should be considered in his sentencing]." 

Lawyer for the Defense

A Peterborough Police prisoner transport van outside the city courthouse. Photo by Ernest Doroszuk/Postmedia/File

  

Aged 39 on his arrest, now 40, Jesse Garlow, a previously-convicted drug trafficker, under a firearms prohibition was placed in custody in June of 2024. The car he was driving was weaving in traffic, causing police to pull him over. The Mohawk man was caught driving with a crack pipe in his lap, a 'killing machine' of a rifle in his vehicle's back seat and a flame thrower in the trunk. He had spent over 500 days in pretrial custody in presumably less than ideal conditions. His lawyer recommended that his punishment go no further than time already served. Whereas the crown recommended 3-1/2 years' imprisonment.

 

Found to have been in possession of a loaded prohibited, modified firearm in contravention of court orders prohibiting him from possession weapons, Garlow pleaded guilty, as charged. He was found, in a search at the time of his arrest with nearly $5,000 in cash in his possession, as well as a small scale, although he swore the money was not from trafficking but rather the winning proceeds from gambling. Garlow "denied that he was trafficking in narcotics. He also vehemently denied that he intended to use the gun to commit a crime". 

 

He had been interviewed for a Gladue report that would entitle him as an Indigenous offender, to background considerations that would have the effect of lightening sentences meted out to Aboriginals in the commission of crimes. Gladue principles were set in stone by a decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in a reflection that sentencing judges must take into consideration unique circumstances of Indigenous offenders; bearing in mind systemic social biases and the over-representation in Canada's prisons of Indigenous people. 

"[The] two positive role models in Jesse's life, his mother and grandmother, died when he was a boy. Both his grandfathers were murdered. His father suffered  cultural alienation in the residential school system. Jesse was separated from a supportive and welcoming community as a direct result. His father was often absent, emotionally unavailable, abusive and encouraged poor choices."

"His sister was killed by police while she was suffering a mental health crisis. His nephew died of an overdose. His father is missing."

"[I see a] clear, causal nexus between his father's brutalization in residential schools and the trail of damage and devastation that slammed like a wrecking ball through the next generation. I cannot imagine a case with a more shocking example of the detrimental impact of colonialism, intergenerational trauma and the attempted cultural genocide by seizing children from their communities only to be placed in horribly abusive environments."

"[The mitigation of Garlow's sentence] is not a 'break' for him. A sentence reduction is not a  reflection of a judge being 'soft on crime'. It is our obligation as the gatekeepers of justice to address, redress and hopefully ameliorate institutionalized abuse."

Justice Brenda Green 

And so, possession of a 'killing machine', a flame thrower, and the tools and profits of an illicit trade in recreational drugs bears reduced consequences for those whose aboriginal status entitles them to soft-peddling crime in the greater interests of society forced to do penance for historical wrongs whose consequences have been blown out of proportion by the hairshirt of a mass guilt complex. Yet another denizen of the dark art of crime commissioning is forgiven his threatening, predatory anti-social proclivities to crime in an exercise of 'social justice'. 

 

Ergo: Suspended sentence, credit for time served, three years' probation. 

39-year-old Jesse Garlow of Douro-Dummer Twp, ON, was arrested and charged with:

·      Possession of a loaded prohibited or restricted firearm

·      Possession of Firearm or Ammunition contrary to Prohibition Order

·      Transport firearm, weapon, prohibited device or ammunition in a careless manner

·      Careless storage of a Firearm, Weapon, Prohibited device or ammunition

·      Possession of Break in Instruments

·      Possession of proceeds of property obtained by crime under $5,000                             OPP Chargesheet June 2024

Courtesy Ontario Provincial Police