A failure to finish court-ordered community service hours means Joseph Kenneth Evan Harvey will have to complete even more hours on top of the original court order.
Harvey, 19, from Moose Jaw, appeared in Moose Jaw provincial court on Nov. 25, where he pleaded guilty to breaching his probation order by not finishing 30 hours of community service. In turn, he will have to complete another 10 hours on top of the remaining 27 hours within six months.
Harvey was placed on probation for a prior incident and ordered to complete those hours, explained Crown prosecutor Stephen Yusuff. However, the teenager breached his probation on Aug. 31 by failing to follow those instructions. Officers were then notified by probation services on Sept. 26 indicating the youth had completed only three hours.
The reason Harvey did not complete his community service, he told Judge Karl Basin, is because he had been placed on two different probation orders around the same time. One instructed him to complete 20 hours of community service and another ordered him to finish 30 hours.
“I got the set for 20 done, and then it just got too much for me to be able to do all of them in the right amount of time,” Harvey added.
Basin accepted the Crown’s recommendation and ordered Harvey to complete another 10 hours.
Michael Lawrence Martinson
Michael Lawrence Martinson, 33, from Moose Jaw, pleaded guilty to breaching an undertaking by consuming drugs and received a six-month conditional discharge – meaning he won’t have a criminal record if he finishes the six months without re-offending – along with a victim surcharge fine of $100 to be paid in three months.
Martinson was placed on a recognizance on April 30 for a break and enter, with conditions to keep the peace and be of good behaviour, and not consume alcohol or drugs, explained Yusuff. Police visited Martinson’s house on July 25 at 10:29 p.m. to conduct a curfew check. They also collected a urine sample and conducted an analysis, which showed it was positive for methamphetamines and ecstasy.
Due to those drugs in his system, the Crown suggested 12 months of probation and instructions to take addictions counselling, Yusuff continued. Martinson must also keep the peace and be of good behaviour, and not possess alcohol or drugs.
Martinson told Judge Basin that he had not used drugs in more than a month, a choice he had purposely made.
Since Martinson had no long-standing criminal record, Basin decided to give him a six-month conditional discharge instead.
Moose Jaw provincial court next meets on Wednesday, Nov. 27.