The former clerk of British Columbia’s legislature has received his sentence on Friday in a Vancouver court for breach of trust over the improper purchase of clothing using public funds.
Craig James has been sentenced by way of conditional sentence order of three months.
He will serve one month of house arrest. In months two and three, James has an overnight curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. and will also have to pay $1,886.72 in a restitution order, which is the amount for the clothing he misrepresented as work attire.
James will also pay a victim fine surcharge of $200.
“Conditional discharge would be contrary to public interest and would not adequately denounce conduct or deter others,” Justice Heather Holmes said.
Craig James was found guilty in May, while B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Heather Holmes also ruled he was not guilty on three other counts, including one related to a $258,000 retirement benefit.
In delivering the sentence Friday, Holmes said that while James breached the public trust “at its very heart,” mitigating factors included the low-dollar value involved and the “scathing media coverage” he faced.
Crown prosecutor Brock Martland argued previously, James should be jailed for one year or serve a term of house arrest and also pay $1,886 restitution.
He said that sentence would constitute an “unequivocal denunciation” from the court and deter future officials from misspending public dollars.
Defence lawyer Gavin Cameron asked that the court give James 12 months probation and a conditional sentence.
Cameron said James has faced stigma due to media coverage and was “tried and convicted in the court of public opinion” long before the court determined a verdict.
Former legislature speaker Darryl Plecas, whose own investigation unearthed the allegations against James, said a jail sentence would have sent a stronger message, but that he understood where the judge was coming from.
“He’s someone who lost his lifetime appointment and the $357,000 a year that went with that,” he said.
103-114 “I’m thinking it’s probably going to be very difficult for him to get some kind of employment otherwise that would be anywhere near what he had before especially now that he has a criminal record.”
With files from Canadian Press.
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