ATHABASCA — A local man avoided more jail time and trial proceedings after a night of drinking and a domestic dispute landed him in handcuffs in early February.
In Athabasca Court of Justice Feb. 12, Leonard Neil Cardinal pleaded guilty to one count of failure to comply with release order conditions as part of a joint submission between Crown prosecutor Matthew Kerr and duty counsel Robert Gladu, acting as agent for Richard Mirasty.
One additional count of failure to comply with release order conditions was withdrawn as part of a joint submission. Kerr also initiated a stay of proceedings for one count of assault, one count of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, and one count of assault by choking.
Justice Vaughn Myers accepted the joint submission, waived the victim-fine surcharge, and sentenced Cardinal to 10 days of custody, which put him in a time-served situation.
Before handing down sentencing, Myers asked Cardinal if he was certain about admitting to breaching his conditions.
“Yes, like a fool I did, yes,” said Cardinal, appearing in court via CCTV from the Edmonton Remand Centre.
“There’s going to be a consequence to this,” said Myers. “If you don’t have a criminal record, you may get one; if you do have a criminal record, it’ll be on there.”
Kerr did provide Cardinal’s criminal record to the court, which he described as related with gaps, and noted issues with the Crown’s witness for the charges.
“This matter was originally set for trial, along with the substantive assault, so he’s going to be saving a lot of trial time as well,” said Kerr.
Gladu waived his client's right to a Gladue report and did not make any further submissions.
Myers made a final suggestion to Cardinal: “What I would like you to do, though, is follow the rules, sir. I’m assuming you don’t like to be in jail, (and that’s) one way to stay out, right, and you’re in charge of it.”
Cardinal agreed and touched on his family responsibilities outside of the courthouse. “I got a seven-year-old daughter. I gotta go see her, and I gotta take care of her, and from here, I can’t do anything.”
The facts
Kerr told court on Feb. 3 2024, around 10:50 p.m., Cardinal and a woman were drinking together when officers responded to a domestic disturbance call in Cornwall, Athabasca.
Cardinal was located on the second floor of an apartment building, intoxicated, and was arrested without incident. The woman was found inside a unit in the building.
Officers returned the next day to collect a statement from the woman, who refused. At the time of the incident, Cardinal was on release conditions to abstain from alcohol and a non-contact order from the woman.
