By Curtis Galbraith

Court update: sentencing in mansalughter, drug and stabbing cases

Jan 18, 2019 | 1:18 PM

Manslaughter sentences handed out in High Prairie
 
Alberta Justice says two people charged after the 2015 death of a 20-year-old High Prairie man have been given jail time.
 
On Wednesday, a High Prairie court sentenced Jesse Prestley Laboucan to seven years after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter at an earlier court appearance.
 
He will be given 1659 days credit for time already spent behind bars, leaving 896 days to serve.
 
Dakota Anderson was given four years, also after pleading guilty to manslaughter.
 
He will get for 338 days, leaving 1122 days.
 
Both had originally been charged with murder. A stay of proceedings is still in place on Anderson’s murder charge.
 
Both were charges after Ryan Joseph Ellefson was found unconscious outside of a convenience store/gas station in High Prairie on July 29, 2015. He later died in hospital.
 
Anderson, from Gift Lake, and Laboucan, from Atikameg, were arrested in January of 2016.
 
 
Trial date set in theft case
 
 A trial date has been set for a Hythe man charged after a police chase in October.
 
Alberta Justice says the trial for Matthew James Bergeson is set for April 30.
 
He and a 16-year-old girl were charged after an incident October 10.
 
Police were called about a suspicious man who got his truck stuck near Webster. He and a female passenger left on foot, then fled on a quad.
 
The truck and quad were both stolen. Police then got a report of another stolen truck.
 
That vehicle evaded Mounties for a time before colliding with two police vehicles near Bonanza,
 
Bergeson is facing charges that include theft and possession of property obtained by crime. He is also facing charges that include robbery, assault causing bodily harm, and arson in separate cases from Grande Prairie and Beaverlodge.
 
In March of 2017, Bergeson was given a 30-month jail sentence after an incident in July of 2016 where a police chase started after shots were fired at a west Grande Prairie business. Two children found the firearm in their backyard.
 
 
Man admits to aggravated assault in stabbing case
 
Alberta Justice says a man charged after a December stabbing in Grande Prairie has been handed a 28.5-month jail term.
 
Alexzyander Arthur Ghostkeeper pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated assault Wednesday in Grande Prairie court during his second appearance in this case. Another charge of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose was withdrawn.
 
RCMP said on December 15 last year, they were called at around 10:40 p.m. to a stabbing near 100 Street and 93 Avenue.
 
A man with a serious injury was taken to hospital.
 
Mounties added surveillance video did not show any motivation for the attack.
 
Ghostkeeper was arrested at a home on the city’s east side three days later.
 
  
Jail time in drug case
 
A January 2018 drug bust has led to a 54-month jail sentence for a Grande Prairie man.
 
Alberta Justice says Jamison Hudgins was sentenced December 18 after pleading guilty to charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking, resisting a peace officer, possession of a prohibited firearm, and failure to comply with conditions. Eight other charges were withdrawn.
 
On January 24 last year, police were trying to stop a vehicle for suspected distracted driving. It got away, but Mounties found the driver in a different vehicle outside a home a short time later.
 
Police found the first vehicle and a search turned up heroin, cocaine, other drugs, and cash.