Inmate who bloodied Sarnia Jail guard sentenced to 15 months

A Windsor man has been sentenced to about one year and three months behind bars in part for assaulting a Sarnia Jail guard.

But Robert Labrecque has already finished serving the sentence as he had enough pre-sentence custody credit to serve all but one week of it.

Labrecque, then a 20-year-old Windsor man who was wanted for several months in 2021 we have a Canada-wide warrant on unrelated charges before eventually turning himself in, was charged in Sarnia with assault causing bodily harm and breaching his probation on Nov. 10, 2021. He pleaded not guilty to both charges linked to the tussle that Tuesday that left corrections officer Jared Smith with a cut above his left eye requiring five stiches, but after trial Justice Jeanine LeRoy found him guilty of both earlier this summer.

Labrecque’s sentencing was adjourned to Sept. 8 to obtain a pre-sentence report. That’s when LeRoy imposed a 455-day jail sentence, but Labrecque had 448 days’ credit, leaving just seven days to serve. The sentence also included two years’ probation and a 10-year weapons ban.

Following the trial, LeRoy said she found the three Sarnia Jail guards who testified about Labrecque assaulting a fellow corrections officer were credible and reliable. A video of the bloody altercation inside the border-city jail backed that up.

“I’ve watched the flurry and melee of the video and what I see confirms their evidence,” LeRoy, regional senior judge for the West Region, said in late June while delivering her decision.

The key question defense lawyer Ken Marley raised at trial was whether Labrecque’s punch during the struggle outside his cell was an intentional application of force or a reflexive action.

“I found the Crown has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that it was intentional,” LeRoy said.

Smith didn’t testify at trial and neither did Labrecque, but three other Sarnia Jail guards – Robert Barr, Ryan Charbonneau and Tyler Benn –did.

“I found them to be credible and reliable witnesses,” the judge said. “They were careful not to speculate about things they did not know or see.”

All three corrections officers testified Labrecque knew he was going to be moved that day after his cell was trashed, but he refused to leave. One officer said Labrecque was aggressive and hostile and another recalled him being angry and verbally abusive while taking his stand.

“(Expletive) no. We’re not moving. Nobody’s gonna move,” Barr recalled Labrecque stating.

Benn testified Labrecque said the only way he was going to move was if he was squirted with pepper spray, which is what the jail’s sergeant did – twice after he still refused to move the first time. After finally opening the cell door – a bed sheet had to be cut from it first – Labrecque charged through the opening with latched hands and struck Smith above the left eye, the officers said.

Labrecque’s angry demeanor throughout the incident and the brief gap between the second pepper spraying and the opening of the cell door were key aspects why LeRoy found the punch wasn’t reflexive.

Despite being punched, Smith still helped another guard take Labrecque to the ground, the officers testified. The inmate also received a cut to his head at one point, but the officers weren’t sure how it happened and he didn’t need medical attention.

Labrecque continued to resist and was confrontational while the officers searched him before taking him to segregation. His conduct that day also breached a term in his probation ordering him to keep the peace and be of good behavior, the judge found.

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@ObserverTerry