Attorneys are not miracle workers, chief justice tells gun-crime convict
Published:Wednesday | March 16, 2022 | 1:27 PM
Andre Williams/Staff Reporter
Chief Justice Bryan Sykes on Tuesday sentenced a man with a chequered past to a total of 32 years in prison for three counts of gun-related offences, but not before telling him that attorneys are not miracle workers.
The accused, 47-year-old Mark Shepherd, a higgler and a father of seven, was found guilty of illegal possession of firearm, illegal possession of ammunition, and wounding with intent.
The complainant, who was shot in the mouth by the accused, is his relative who currently resides overseas.
He was arraigned on May 12, 2021, where he pleaded not guilty and went to trial which ended February 21, 2022, where he was found guilty on all three counts.
Before handing down the sentence in the Home Circuit Division of the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston, Sykes commented briefly on the proposal by the country's legislators to amend the Firearm Act to impose life sentences for illegal gun possession.
If the law is passed, convicts would have to spend 15 years behind bars before being eligible for parole.
Sykes acknowledged that increased levels of violent crime had led to growing calls for tougher penalties for illegal gun possession, a response he described as "rational and reasonable".
Shepherd was sentenced to 10 years for possession of firearm, seven years for possession of ammunition and 15 years for wounding, which the chief justice said would, in some jurisdictions, be deemed attempted murder.
The sentences are to run concurrently.
Criminal History
The court heard that Shepherd, who is from Collie Smith Drive, Kingston 11, had five prior convictions spanning 1996 to 2011 on charges of assault, wounding, and robbery.
He was slapped with fines, suspended sentences, and, on the last occasion, to 15 months at hard labour.
His latest run-in with the law happened in 2017.
Attorney Patrick Peterkin said his client made an error of judgement and claimed that he was obviously drunk.
Shepherd's community spoke well of him and a spouse of the complainant reportedly said Shepherd was not the aggressor.
“At his age, he should not be going in. He should be coming out,” Peterkin said of his client.
Sentencing
Sykes said based on all accounts, the complainant is a “very difficult gentleman”.
“He was preying up on you for some time but certainly on the night in question, he even inflicted injuries on you and that is how you ended up at the hospital, but what you did was, I suppose, put yourself on equal terms,” the judge said.
Sykes said Shepherd retrieved a firearm and shot the complainant before running away.
His capture was of coincidence, according to the high court judge.
“The difficulty for me now is that the police found you injured and the two police officers involved had not received a report concerning you and any shooting. They were responding to something else when they came up on you injured. When they lifted you to put you in the vehicle, the gun fell from you,” Sykes said of Shepherd's series of events.
The police reportedly placed Shepherd back on the ground and retrieved the firearm and began to make enquiries.
“The dots were connected and here we are,” Sykes told Shepherd, who had earlier wished not to speak.
The defendant raised his hands, however, but Sykes told him that his opportunity had passed and that his attorney was trying to make blood out of stone.
“So many defendants believe that attorneys can turn water in to wine and make the sun stand still and to walk on water and to produce several baskets of five loaves and two fish. Attorneys are not miracle workers - at least not in that way,” the judge told Shepherd.
The chief justice told him that a discount might have arisen had he entered a guilty plea.
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