A man charged for his role in a 2016 police chase in Okotoks has his sentencing hearing delayed for three months because he is in quarantine at the Calgary Remand Centre.
Crown prosecutor Vince Pingitore told Judge Ann Brown he was advised the accused, James Chartrand, was in quarantine and would not be transported to the court for his sentencing hearing on Jan. 4.
In March, Chartrand, of no fixed address, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, assaulting two police officers, criminal hit and run, housebreaking, theft of a motor vehicle and fraud under $5,000.
Chartrand led police on a chase through Okotoks in a stolen vehicle in July 2016.
Okotoks RCMP were alerted to a stolen truck in the Walmart parking lot on July 14. When they arrived the driver allegedly tried to run down an officer and a chase ensued. At one point the stolen vehicle drove head on into traffic on Southridge Drive. The chase was called off, but a police vehicle collided with a Volker Stevin pickup truck at the intersection of Elizabeth Street and Northridge Drive. Okotoks and High River RCMP caught up to the stolen vehicle and arrested Chartrand and a 16-year-old.
Chartrand has been in custody for almost a year-and-a-half since his arrest.
His sentencing has been delayed since July 2017 as his lawyer worked to get psychological reports, a fetal alcohol diagnosis report and a Gladeau report, which will look into his aboriginal background.
Defence lawyer Andrea Urquhart said Chartrand should be in the courtroom for the sentencing and rescheduled it for March 29 in Calgary Provincial Court.
At that time Urquhart said she will be making an application to the court in regards to a lack of access for her client to aboriginal spiritual rituals, including smudging, inside the remand centre.
