Judge opts for shorter sentence

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This article was published 20/07/2023 (1163 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A judge gave a lower sentence than recommended by both Crown and defence lawyers to a woman he said was in the throes of a mental health crisis when she assaulted two correctional officers at the Woman’s Correctional Centre earlier this year.

Tara Michaelis pleaded guilty to two counts of assaulting a peace officer after she spit on them while they attempted to restrain her after her suicide attempt inside the women’s jail in Headingley. The Crown and defence agreed on a nine-month sentence for Michaelis in court on Tuesday. However, Judge Patrick Sullivan decided to sentence the woman to six months instead.

Judges tend to adopt sentences that both prosecution and defence agree on, but the judge ultimately makes the final decision as to an accused’s sentence.

“I recognize the desperation you were feeling, the way you were struggling in that moment,” Sullivan said. “And I think that impacts to some extent, your moral culpability.”

Crown attorney Sarah Kok read the evidence for the charges in court.

On Feb. 15, 2023, correctional guards at WCC were requested to go to Michaelis’ cell for a report that she was attempting to self-harm. When officers arrived, they found that Michaelis had tied her institutional smock around her neck, attempting to choke herself.

Though the officers could not find any kind of discolouration on Michaelis’ face, they determined she was at a serious risk of harming herself.

The officers untied the knot around her neck, obtained a pulse, and put Michaelis in handcuffs and shackles. She was then placed into a restraint chair, secured by a belly strap, along with straps on her legs and arms. The prosecutor said that officers placed Michaelis in the restraints for her safety.

But then, Michaelis began to act erratically and resist the restraints. She flailed her arms at the officers, swinging a dangling handcuff at the officers while they tried to secure her other arm with the handcuff. Other officers were called to the cell to help detain Michaelis.

One of the officers told Michaelis to stop resisting. The prosecutor said that video surveillance of the incident showed Michaelis swinging toward the officers and pulling away from the restraints. The officers continued to yell at Michaelis to stop pulling away as they try to secure her in the restraints.

Then Michaelis looked at one of the officers and asked her “what the f— are you laughing at, b—-?” before spitting in her face. The officer turned her head away to brace for more spit, which then landed on the face of another officer. The spit landed on the officer’s mouth and Michaelis yelled, “I’m hep[atitis]-c positive, so yeah, b—-.”

Eventually, officers were able to secure Michaelis and place a spit mask on her.

She continued to thrash her arms and body around in the restraint chair, prompting a nurse to come into the cell and sedate her.

Kok noted that Crown could have prosecuted Michaelis for a more serious charge of assault causing bodily harm because of Michaelis yelling about being hepatitis-c positive while spitting in the officers’ faces.

The prosecutor referenced the victim impact statement from one of the correctional officers, who said that she has had to undergo a series of blood tests as a result of the incident. According to the statement, if the blood tests reveal anything in her bloodstream, the officer could be prevented from having a surgery required for a chronic illness that she suffers from.

The Crown sought a nine-month jail sentence for the spitting. Kok said that although Michaelis does not have any previous convictions for violence, she said the incident was extremely serious.

“It’s a lengthy sentence here, but I believe that it’s warranted and necessary,” the prosecutor said.

Sullivan asked if there was any confirmation that Michaelis was hepatitis-c positive. Kok said that the Crown did not know as it did not receive any medical report, but that even the threat of the virus is enough to make the offence more serious.

Michaelis’ defence lawyer, Bob Harrison, said his client was in a very bad place at the time of the charges. He said that the 41-year-old had been placed in custody just seven days before the incident with the guards and had been withdrawing from drugs at the time.

Harrison said that Michaelis lost several family members, including some to suicide, and turned to fentanyl and cocaine to cope with the emotional pain that she was experiencing.

The defence lawyer said Michaelis spent time in a hospital for bipolar disorder when she was young, and was placed on medication, which she said did not help her.

Michaelis, who appeared in court by video from WCC, apologized for her actions and said that she had been taking programs offered by the jail.

“So, things are getting better for me, but my mental health is still not OK,” she said.

Sullivan asked her if she has been able to access psychiatric care.

Michaelis said she hasn’t been able to see a psychologist.

During the delivery of the sentence, Sullivan said that though correctional officers have a difficult job, the incident with the correctional officers occurred in a moment of desperation where Michaelis had been attempting suicide.

“Though this is a correctional facility, in that moment, it feels to me somewhat like more of a mental health crisis than anything else,” he said.

Still, Sullivan emphasized the seriousness of the incident, including the fact that the spit landed on an officer’s mouth and the fact that their intervention in her suicide attempt was “heroic.”

“I don’t mean to diminish your behaviour in any way or excuse what you did here,” the judge said. “But I think sometimes what’s lost in the way we consider this is the fact that this was occurring in a crisis for Miss Michaelis.”

Ultimately, the judge decided to sentence Michaelis to six months in jail for the assaults on the officers. Michaelis also pleaded guilty to a break and enter into the Knights Inn in Brandon in 2019, multiple failure to attend court charges and a theft under $5,000 charge from Portage la Prairie earlier this year.

After time served, Michaelis will spend another two and a half months behind bars.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

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