Another delay has pushed the sentencing for a young man charged in a January 2021 shooting in Chatham to mid-April.
Terry St. Hill, 21, was scheduled to be sentenced Monday for the Jan. 26, 2021, shooting on Harvey Street that left two victims injured, but the presiding judge, Justice Paul Kowalyshn, was not available to deliver his decision.
St. Hill will return to court on April 13 for sentencing.
There had already been several months of delays leading up to the Feb. 9 sentencing submissions because of issues raised by the defence.
St. Hill was initially charged with three counts of attempted murder after he fired a gun at three people and a dog. He pleaded guilty in September 2022 to the lesser charge of discharging a firearm with the intent to endanger the lives of three people.
He also pleaded guilty to possession of a firearm while under a weapons prohibition. Previously, in May 2022, he also pleaded guilty to, willfully and without lawful cause, killing a dog.
According to previously published reports, four shots were fired that left an adult victim with a “grazing gunshot wound” to the chest and a teen victim with a gunshot wound to the wrist, which later required surgery to treat broken bones.
The family dog was also shot dead while another youth was shot at but escaped injury.
St. Hill’s lawyer, Michael Smith, suggests an award of five-and-a-half years during Feb. 9 sentencing submissions. The lawyer also requested enhanced credit for time served, factoring in 120 days that St. Hill spent in lockdown and other COVID-19 impacts while his client was in pre-sentence custody. If granted, ]St. Hill would actually serve less than 20 months.
During sentencing submissions, assistant Crown attorney Scott Kerwin supported St. Hill receiving 1.5 days credit for the 644 days he had spent in pre-trial custody, which is the equivalent of 966 days. However, Kerwin opposed the application of enhanced credit, saying that would “usurp the award such that it leaves an unfit award.”
Four others were also initially facing three counts of attempted murder in the wake of the shooting.
Two other male co-accused, who were young offenders at the time, both pleaded guilty to lesser charges of aggravated assault in September 2022 and were sentenced to time served.
The charges against two other co-accused, Rylie DeJonge-Vandusen and Brianna Gardiner, were withdrawn.