Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 31, 2013, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE B1 CROSSTOWN CIVIC CREDIT UNION www. crosstowncivic. mb. ca Call for details. ( Some conditions may apply.) FREE CHEQUING FOR 1 YEAR FREE MORTGAGE TRANSFERS PLUS PATRONAGE REBATES COMPETITIVE RATES CITY & BUSINESS CITY EDITOR: SHANE MINKIN 204- 697- 7292 city. desk@ freepress. mb. ca I winnipegfreepress. com WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 2013 B 1 A Winnipeg teen who killed a pizza- delivery man with an axe told jail officials last week he doesn't care " if I get another murder charge." " It's all good," he boasted following yet another violent incident with inmates behind bars. But the high- risk 17- year- old won't get that opportunity - at least not in the community - for a long time after being handed the maximum sentence allowed by law. The teen pleaded guilty last year to second- degree murder for the May 2011 attack at Pizza Hotline that killed 56- year- old Gerald Crayford. He returned to court Tuesday for sentencing. Provincial court Judge Rocky Pollack had previously ruled the teen should be given an adult sentence, which means an automatic life term behind bars. The only remaining question was how long he must wait until he can apply for parole. Pollack agreed Tuesday with Crown attorney Lisa Carson's request for seven years, which is the most a youth offender sentenced as an adult can receive. The teen had been seeking five years, which is the minimum. There is no guarantee of release, and it's possible he could spend the rest of his life behind bars. " This sickened me when I think of how vicious the violence was," Pollack said Tuesday. Pollack said earlier this year the teen, who was 15 at the time of the homicide and turns 18 in October, can't be rehabilitated by a youth sentence in which his maximum jail time would have been just four years. The adult sentence also allows for the teen's name to be published because he is no longer protected by the provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. However, that can't occur until his 30- day appeal process ends. Crayford was a delivery man for the Pizza Hotline store on Concordia Avenue when he walked into a robbery in progress May 15, 2011. The teen, who was armed with an axe, and an accomplice threatened the clerk. Crayford tried to stop the robbery. The accomplice pulled Crayford off the teen, who struck Crayford in the head twice with the blunt end of the axe. The incident was captured on video. Crayford died the next day. " This was serious, gratuitous violence," Carson said Tuesday. The teen appeared to be in charge of the robbery, directing his accomplice, and stole the till when they were unable to open it, taking it back to his house. There was $ 2,000 in it. The two suspects were arrested the following day. Co- accused Byron Bushie, who was 18 at the time, hasn't faced trial and is presumed innocent. Pollack said the teen's actions leading up to and after the robbery show he's unlikely to be rehabilitated by the shorter youth sentence. He said the teen bragged about the crime, re- enacted it on video using cellphones stolen from the store and told his girlfriend " it felt cool to kill someone." " His rehabilitation is still at the starting line," Pollack said Tuesday. He noted the teen has racked up a lengthy list of incidents behind bars, including threatening and fighting with other youth inmates. Court also heard the teen's mother, grandmother and sister helped him hide the axe, which police later found. They were never charged. www. mikeoncrime. com T HIRTY- THREE years ago, Robert Nick Fotti failed to show up in court to learn he was sentenced to nine months in jail for dangerous driving after the death of a Winnipeg man and his 17- year- old son on a motorcycle. Fotti, now 64, and who on Tuesday finished a nine- month sentence in a Texas jail for felony for tampering with a governmental record, could now be weeks away from beginning to serve that long delayed penalty. U. S. immigration officials took Fotti into custody after his release from jail. But a family spokesman for the two victims, prominent Winnipeg defence counsel Greg Brodsky, said they don't care whether Fotti ever comes back to Canada to serve the sentence. Brodsky, whose brother- in- law and 17- year- old nephew were killed when the vehicle Fotti was driving struck the pair's motorcycle on Easter Sunday in April 1977, said the nine- month jail sentence Fotti received in 1980 is not worth bringing him back to Canada. " We don't need him back here," Brodsky said on Tuesday, noting Texas law officials also found materials during a police raid of an organization Fotti is a member of that lauded as patriots Oklahoma City bombers Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. " If he's in Texas, leave him there. But my opinion, and the opinion of the family, doesn't matter. " We're not talking about a sentence of life imprisonment. It's only a sentence of nine months. It might have been meaningful back then, but after this length of time it is meaningless. " Let justice take it's course." According to an April 11, 1977, Free Press story, Gordon Hochman, 42, and his son, Stewart, were driving north on Border Street on their motorcycle. Hochman's wife, Marlene, was following shortly behind with one of their two other sons on another motorcycle. The pair were struck at Dublin Street by a westbound van driven by Fotti at 11: 15 a. m. The man and teenager were rushed to hospital where they were pronounced dead. Then 27- year- old Fotti was charged and went before the courts where he was acquitted by a lower court judge, but was later convicted by the Manitoba Court of Appeal of dangerous driving. The conviction was upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada and he was sentenced to nine months in jail by the Appeal Court. During the trial, it was revealed when Fotti was 15, his father wounded his mother and when she was taken to Health Sciences Centre, the father tracked her down and shot her to death before killing himself. But Fotti was absent at his own sentencing. It was later learned Fotti had fled to the U. S. where he lived illegally for years until getting resident alien status through an amnesty program. Fotti, who changed his name to Robert James Fox, lived in Jacksonville, Texas, for years until his arrest in 2008 on a felony charge for tampering with a governmental record. At the time of a police search, thousands of illegal drugs were also found. He was later sentenced to nine months in jail. Local law officials were also concerned about Fox's connections with the local House of Israel, a movement that refuses to recognize American laws or taxation rules. Jacksonville police Chief Reece Daniel wrote a letter about Fox to Janet Napolitano, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, which was reported in the local media. The letter said: " Quite frankly, I feel that a resident alien who entered this country illegally to escape justice and then changed his name in order to gain amnesty and then embarked on a lifelong crusade against our Constitutional laws should be deportable." Jacksonville police detective Greg Compton said he wouldn't miss Fox. " As long as he doesn't show up here again that would be fine with me," Compton told the Free Press . A Manitoba Justice spokeswoman said the department continues to be informed about Fotti's immigration proceedings through the RCMP. " American authorities will hold an immigration hearing to determine when/ if he will be returned to Canada," the spokeswoman said. Brodsky said the tragedy was tough on his family, especially his wife, whose sister lost her husband and a son. Brodsky said the Hochman family had left his house 11 minutes before. " They were looking at a house to buy two blocks from where we live," he said. " The laws are different now. We have breathalyzers. ( Fotti) had been drinking - we just don't know how much." kevin. rollason@ freepress. mb. ca By Mike McIntyre Harshest sentence for axe- wielding youth Fugitive to face delayed justice? Timeline of a tragedy . April 10, 1977: Gordon Hochman, 43, and his 17- year- old son, Stewart, were killed when the motorcycle they were on was struck by a van driven by Robert Nick Fotti, then 27, at Dublin Street and Border Avenue. Police later determined Fotti was driving 44 miles per hour in a 40 mile per hour zone when he ran a red light. . 1978: Fotti is acquitted by county court Judge B. R. Coleman, who ruled Fotti had " a momentary lapse" that wasn't grounds for a dangerous driving conviction. The acquittal was quashed by the Manitoba Court of Appeal later that year by a 4- 1 ruling with Mr. Justice Roy Matas saying for the majority that Fotti had no reasonable explanation for not seeing the motorcyclists. . 1979: The Supreme Court agrees with the Manitoba Court of Appeal decision. . 1980: The Court of Appeal sentences Fotti to nine months in jail for dangerous driving. Fotti is not in court and his lawyer, Ray Flett, did not explain why he wasn't there. It was later learned Fotti had fled to the United States, which did not allow extradition for dangerous- driving offences. Matas, noting Fotti had a record of driving offences including disobeying stop signs and traffic lights, said punishment and deterrence were necessary. Mr. Justice Joseph O'Sullivan, in disagreeing, said ordinary citizens who accidentally drive through red lights don't think it is an offence deserving jail and added he would have imposed a substantial fine plus probation. The maximum penalty is two years. . 1990: CBC reporters locate Fotti living in Texas under a new name, Robert Fox. . Feb. 1992: Fotti contacts Free Press columnist Gordon Sinclair to say he left Canada because of death threats he received in the wake of the fatal collision and court cases. " I lost a wife, my family, my business, my country. Everything that mattered. I spent a decade as an illegal alien, looking over my shoulder." . 2008: Media reports say Fotti is arrested and charged with possessing drugs and controlled substances after more than 10,000 illegal pills were found in his House of Israel complex in Jacksonville, Texas. Later, Fotti was also charged with allegedly practising law without a licence while police also found information that linked the group to terrorist organizations, including fliers calling the Oklahoma City bombers patriots. . July 30, 2013: Fotti completes his nine- month sentence for felony for tampering with a governmental record. He is placed in custody by American immigration authorities awaiting an immigration hearing. Man may be deported decades after deaths By Kevin Rollason Ringing the bell in St. Boniface St. Boniface Museum director Philippe Mailhot with the Bell of Batoche, which is on display at the St. Boniface Museum today. The bell will then be moved for maintenance before it returns to the museum next Tuesday. The 9- kilogram silver bell was taken from the M�tis community in Batoche, Sask., in 1885 after the Northwest Rebellion. KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Robert Fotti CBC Aftermath of Robert Fotti collision with a motorcycle. B_ 01_ Jul- 31- 13_ FP_ 01. indd B1 7/ 30/ 13 10: 08: 06 PM ;