Without stick handling out too far on thin legal ice, I find it curious that the Crown is appealing former P.E.I. Rocket hockey player Chris Doyle’s court sentence of a conditional discharge.
Earlier this month Chief Provincial Court Judge John Douglas sentenced the 20-year-old Doyle after he pleaded guilty to damaging property of his former girlfriend. He also ordered Doyle to keep the peace and be of good behaviour during a six-month period of probation.
Doyle’s troubles began last September when, after a night fuelled by booze, he barged — perhaps banged is a better word — in unannounced on his ex-girlfriend’s Charlottetown apartment. He struck the apartment door with his fist, driving it backwards into another young woman’s face, in the process breaking her nose.
However, the judge found him not guilty of a charge of assault causing bodily harm because he said the Crown hadn’t been able to establish that Doyle had actually intended to hurt the victim.
Nonetheless, the judge commented that if Doyle had been charged with being “a colossal asshole” he would have found him guilty.
Even Doyle didn’t disagree with that. “I feel horrible about what happened. I am going to put this in the past and move on with my life,” he said.
Later he thanked the court for giving him a second chance.
Part of the judge’s decision-making in granting a conditional discharge was the fact Doyle had a very positive pre-sentence report.
In arguing against a conditional discharge, and instead for 12 months' probation, the Crown prosecutor said a conditional discharge would not send the right message to Doyle personally, or to the community as a whole.
What is beyond dispute in this case is that a young man has reached a crossroads in his life. The facts say he messed up in a big way. But that’s now history and can’t be changed; all Chris Doyle can do is work on the future.
While the Crown says the sentence didn’t send the right message, with all due respect I disagree.
On the scale of things, sadly, Doyle’s court case is pretty small potatoes when compared to some of the crimes paraded through the court system. That doesn’t mean it was right, nor does it mean he didn’t cause terrific anguish and pain to the two young women involved.
And as a result of his transgressions he has taken a much heavier hit than any body check he ever received. Because of his profile as a well-known local hockey player his case received tenfold more attention than it would have if a lesser-known person had been involved. And while that isn’t exactly jail time, it is certainly a form of punishment.
An important thing to take into consideration in the Doyle case is his age — 20. Some think he’s cocky and was dismissive of the whole incident.
But such thinking is subjective. After all, who really knows what goes on inside another person’s head? I have never met the young man but I can’t imagine the past few months have been enjoyable for him.
As Doyle himself said, the judge gave him a second chance. It’s now up to him to see what he does with that opportunity. We’ll all be watching.
Whether it knows it or not the Crown has already won its case. Yes it lost out on the assault charge, but it has a conviction on the damage to property. And the resulting publicity the case received has certainly tarnished Doyle’s reputation.
To put things in hockey terms, it won the game, maybe not by a big score. But who remembers the score anyway?
Doyle did the crime, he has certainly ‘done the time’ in terms of public humiliation. It’s time to move on.
Gary MacDougall is managing editor of The Guardian. He can be reached by telephone at (902) 629-6039, or by email at gmacdougall@theguardian.pe.ca.
