B.C.’s top court upholds 18-month sentence for Surrey man convicted of drug trafficking

A Surrey man set to prison for trafficking “a small quantity” of heroin mixed with fentanyl failed in a bid to get the British Columbia Court of Appeals to reduce his sentence.

Sung Hwan Choi was sentenced to 18 months in prison in 2019 for a  2017 trafficking offence that happened in Vernon.

His lawyer had argued in B.C.’s highest court that despite the seriousness of the offence, Choi should have received less time behind bars.

A three-judge panel of the B.C. Court of Appeal unanimously rejected Choi’s arguments in a written decision dated March 3.

“His motive for making this foolish decision was purely financial,” Justice Gregory James Fitch wrote.

“He thought he could make a quick buck and was seemingly unconcerned that he would do so at the expense of others and the broader community of Vernon.”

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Choi had asked the court to have his prison time reduced to a suspended sentence with three years’ probation on strict terms. Alternatively, he argued that the sentence should be reduced to six months’ imprisonment.

His lawyer told the court that Choi’s young age at the time of the offence and his otherwise law-abiding life were enough to justify departing from the generally applicable range for sentencing, which starts at 18 months.

Choi was 21 at the time of the offence, and 23 at the time of sentencing, and was a first-time offender.

In the appellate decision, the judge noted that Choi had been selling drugs for a couple of weeks before he was arrested on Oct. 27, 2017. Choi missed an opportunity to take heed of what had happened three days earlier, when he’d been stopped by the police in the course of a drug investigation, the judge wrote. “This event did not dissuade the appellant from continuing to work on the drug line.”

The sentencing judge was aware of the impact the opioid crisis is having on the Vernon community, was uniquely qualified to determine the degree and kind of punishment to be imposed, the appellate court said.

Also, the lower court judge had pointed out that Choi trafficked drugs in Vernon for a couple of weeks before getting caught, and would have eventually discovered the harmful consequences of his actions.

“The judge recognized that he had the discretion to impose a sentence outside the generally applicable range so long as it reflected the principles and objectives of sentencing,” Fitch wrote.

“He also recognized that general deterrence and denunciation are the primary considerations in sentencing offenders who traffic in fentanyl. He concluded that general deterrence is of particular importance in sentencing a non-addicted offender who is motivated solely by profit to participate in the drug trade.”

Fitch pointed out that the judge did take into account age and lifestyle, but he also had a substantial body of evidence before him concerning the alarming rates of fentanyl-related deaths in this province.

Particularly, he was aware that the overdose-related death rate in Vernon in 2018 was higher than in Surrey, a large city with a well-known and significant drug problem.

“I see no basis upon which this court could properly interfere with the way in which the judge weighed the aggravating and mitigating circumstances and principles and objectives of sentencing,” Fitch said.