Two days of sentencing submissions wrapped up Tuesday for a Kelowna Hells Angel and an alleged associate of the biker gang.
Bruce Skreptak and Cory Montemurro were earlier convicted of numerous firearms charges after police pulled over a vehicle for speeding near Salmon Arm four years ago.
Officers found an arsenal of weapons including three loaded handguns with extra ammunition, a sawed off shotgun, knives, face masks, body armour and a cell phone jamming device.
Crown Counsel, Sandra Dworkin, is asking both men be sentenced to seven years imprisonment, submitting the pair were involved in a nefarious, criminal enterprise and the loaded guns were for some use beyond intimidation.
“The circumstances of this case are highly, highly aggravating and the danger posed to others at the time is extremely high. In fact, but for the intervention of the police that night some person may have been at serious risk of harm,” says Dworkin.
But Montemurro’s lawyer says to suggest something bad was going to happen that night would be dead wrong.
“It cannot be said there was going to be harm done. We do not know that. Other than the simple possession of these weapons, no overt act ever occurred,” says Don Skogstad.
Skreptak’s lawyer addressed his being a full-patch Hells Angel, saying he’s a proud member of the biker gang who joined to show his extreme enthusiasm for motorcycles. Kelly Christiansen told the judge the commitment of the Hells Angels to the welfare of children particularly appealed to Skreptak.
Skreptak was wearing a Hells Angels shirt, which he ripped up after his arrest, but Christiansen urged the judge to not consider his membership an aggravating factor in his crimes.
“Wearing support clothing is not in any way associated with criminality in these matters,” says the defence lawyer while seeking a four year prison term.
Montemurro is asking for three years behind bars which is the mandatory minimum sentence for some of the gun offenses.
The judge will hand down his decision in January, partly to allow the two men to spend Christmas with their families.
Comments