An Edmonton judge is weighing whether Lisa Marie Duperron should go to prison or serve a community sentence after pleading guilty to a weapons offence involving a loaded gun found in her home. Prosecutor Bertrand Malo is seeking three years in prison, while defence lawyer David Wolsey has asked for a two-year conditional sentence order that would include house arrest. Duperron appeared Tuesday before Court of King’s Bench Justice James Neilson for sentencing submissions.

Duperron was arrested in August 2023 with her then-partner, Tyler Melnick. The pair faced 43 firearm and drug-related charges after an investigation into drug supply in Edmonton’s inner city. A police inspector said at the time they were selling “deadly illicit drugs like fentanyl” to “members of the vulnerable community, further victimizing them and fuelling the violence and chaos we’re seeing in our inner city.”

Duperron pleaded guilty late last year to a weapons offence and breaches relating to the loaded firearm. The judge has already found that police breached her rights while she was in custody, including problems with the grounds for her arrest and with allowing her access to counsel. Wolsey argued those breaches should reduce her sentence, describing them as “egregious” and an “institutional failure” by Edmonton police.

“This is sloppy police practice, it is reckless, it need be not only discouraged, but the court needs to distance itself from that type of conduct,” Wolsey said. He argued that Duperron’s guilty plea despite the breaches should earn her a one-year reduction. “She owned up. She plead guilty, she accepted responsibility and she’s here before this court asking for a sentence reduction.”

Malo acknowledged the rights breaches were serious, but said they did not warrant a substantial reduction. He said they fell “well short of the type of breaches that have historically justified significant sentence reduction.” He also told the court Parliament has made clear its concerns about firearm possession, an offence carrying a maximum penalty of 14 years in prison.

Malo said a sentence should denounce the offence and deter others from committing similar crimes. His position is that Duperron should serve three years behind bars. The defence instead says she poses no threat to the public and has “basically rehabilitated herself” while on pre-trial release.

Wolsey pointed to Duperron’s two-year-old son, who was in the courtroom gallery, and to support letters describing changes in her life since becoming a mother. “Putting Ms. Duperron in jail is not going to serve anybody any good,” he said. “She clearly has rehabilitated herself, everyone agrees.” He added: “It’s going to hurt that very young child back there,” indicating the gallery.

Wolsey also described Duperron’s former relationship with Melnick as “overbearing.” He said there was no evidence that Duperron herself took part in drug trafficking. The sentencing arguments therefore included her circumstances as a mother, her conduct while on release, the firearm offence and the police conduct that the court found breached her rights.

Melnick pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking and received a two-year jail sentence. His remaining charges were withdrawn. Duperron’s case is next scheduled to be in court on Oct. 16, when a date will be set for Neilson to deliver her sentence.

Based on reporting by Edmonton Journal.