As Canada’s criminal justice system faces heightened scrutiny this federal election, another violent offender has been given house arrest rather than jail time for an unprovoked attack that left a man with permanent life-altering injuries.
The British Columbia’s Court of Appeal overturned the jail sentence for Isaac Davis, an Indigenous man in his 20s, who severely and permanently injured another man in an unprovoked attack.
The ruling, delivered on Monday, stated that Davis should serve his sentence under house arrest due to his First Nations background and the obligation to consider systemic factors in the overrepresentation of Indigenous peoples in prison.
According to court records, Davis was on the phone with his mother when she was involved in a motor vehicle accident with the victim, identified in the court documents as Mr. Stone.
Davis thought he could hear Mr. Stone yelling at his mother and mistakenly thought she was in danger. In response, Davis rushed to the scene of the accident and on arrival confronted Mr. Stone.
Isaac Davis, who was 20 at the time, then punched Stone in the forehead in what the court described as a “tragic misunderstanding,” after mistakenly believing the man was threatening his mother following the minor traffic incident.
In actuality, Stone had just returned from a store with cigarettes for Davis’s distressed mother.
The single blow caused Stone to collapse, bleeding from the head and vomiting. He later underwent multiple surgeries for two brain bleeds, spent three weeks in a coma and two weeks paralyzed.
He was left with a serious brain injury, including memory loss, cognitive impairments, a speech disorder and hearing damage. In a victim impact statement, Stone said the assault left him unable to work for 18 months and affected his ability to care for his young children.
Davis immediately tried to help Stone after realizing the extent of the injury, turning him on his side, apologizing repeatedly and remaining at the scene for police and paramedics. Court reports described Davis as remorseful, suicidal and haunted by the incident.
He initially received a jail sentence but appealed, arguing the trial judge failed to properly apply the Gladue sentencing principles, which require courts to consider the unique circumstances of Indigenous offenders and prioritize alternatives to incarceration under section 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code.
Section 718.2(e) of the Criminal Code mandates that sentencing courts “consider all available sanctions other than imprisonment that are reasonable in the circumstances, with particular attention to the circumstances of Aboriginal offenders.”
Justice Karen Fenlon, writing for the appeal court, ruled that the trial judge erred in minimizing the relevance of Gladue factors based on Davis’s education, employment, and lack of criminal history.
Fenlon noted Davis, a member of the K’ómoks First Nation, was raised amid poverty, domestic violence and parental substance abuse, and took on a protective role in the family due to his father’s behaviour.
Court documents additionally noted that his background also included “the intergenerational trauma of residential schools.”
As such, the appeal court substituted a two-year conditional sentence to be served under house arrest.