BY KEITH LACEY
A Sudbury man repeatedly and vehemently denied he was a member of an outlaw biker gang before a veteran judge sentenced him to a short jail term for threatening a police officer and members of his family.
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You must consider all the circumstances of each case before imposing sentence and sending Warren England to jail for six months, as suggested by the Crown Monday, would be far too stiff a penalty, said Justice Randall Lalande.
Instead, Lalande sentenced England, 39, to 45 days in jail, which will include 15 days of straight time to be followed by an intermittent sentence to be served on weekends until the 45-day sentence is completed.
England was found guilty during a brief trial a year ago of threatening a police officer the day after the officer had talked to England's girlfriend at the Sudbury courthouse.
A pre-sentence report was prepared before England was sentenced Monday.
It was only through Â?happenstanceÂ? that England's girlfriend was at the courthouse the day in question and through sheer coincidence the officer was seen by England in a holding area at the Sudbury District Jail the next morning, said Lalande.
Following the trial, Lalande found England guilty of criminal harassment for banging violently on an enclosed glass area and yelling at the officer to stay away from his girlfriend.
Lalande ruled be believed England threatened the officer and his family by using the words Â?I'll devote my life to you. I know where you live and where you sleep.Â?
The officer testified he was in fear for his own safety because he believed England was a member of the Hells Angels biker gang.
The court must consider all the circumstances surrounding each case before imposing an appropriate sentence, said Lalande.
Asking for a six-month jail sentence is too harsh when you consider all the circumstances of this case, he said.
Â?I have to assess the situation for what it was,Â? he said.
England wasn't pleased a police officer was talking to his girlfriend while he was in jail and obviously over-reacted when he observed the same officer the next morning, he said.
Â?He saw him and exploded,Â? he said.
There's nothing before the court to indicate the officer did anything wrong in talking to the girlfriend and England should not have reacted so strongly, he said.
Â?In my opinion, he can't avoid jail completely,Â? he said.
England has been out on bail since last August and there has been no allegations of him having contact with the officer or any other member of the local police service or getting into any kind of trouble and this must also be considered, said Lalande.
Besides the short stint in jail, Lalande placed England on probation for 24 months, where he's not to have any contact with the officer or members of his family.
Numerous allegations made in the pre-sentence report prepared by a probation officer suggested England might be a member of associate member of an outlaw biker gang.
This was totally inappropriateas the probation officer gather informationfrom other sources because England has never acknowledged any association with the Hells Angels, said defence counsel Denis Michel.
Before sentence was imposed, England told the court Â?I have never been a member of any biker gang.Â?
He also insisted his words to the officerÂ?were blown out of proportion.Â?
The pre-sentence report also had wording about England twice being charged with murder, said Michel.
This was again inappropriate as he's never been convicted of those crimes, said Michel.
Last year, another Sudbury man, Devon McCoshen, pleaded guilty in the beating death of a Sturgeon Falls man two years ago.
All charges against England were withdrawn before trial began.
Another Sudbury man, Jason Tessier, was found not guilty of murder last fall following a trial in North Bay.
