A man accused of trying to snatch a four-month baby girl from her parents last summer escaped conviction on the charge because he was so high on drugs it could not be proven he intended to commit the act.
David Michael Lucas, 29, was sentenced to 180 days in jail on Monday for one count each of assault and assaulting a peace officer.
But stays of proceedings were issued for abduction of a person under 14 and kidnapping.
Why Lucas was convicted on two of the charges but not on the six others came down to difference between "specific" and "general" intent, criminal justice branch spokesman Neil Mackenzie said Friday.
"There was clear evidence he was very intoxicated when the incident took place and intoxication can deprive a person of a criminal level of intent with respect to some offences," Mackenzie said. "Certain charges require what's referred to as a 'specific' intent...a higher level of intent and awareness than is necessary for other offences which are referred to as 'general' intent offences."
Lucas pleaded guilty to assaulting the girl's mother and resisting arrest, on which the lower intent level can yield a conviction.
Police apprehended Lucas on July 9 shortly after they were called to the scene at 8th Avenue and Victoria Street.
Witnesses told police a man approached a couple from behind, pushed between them, mumbled that the baby was in danger and tried grab the child from her stroller. When the parents fought back, he was unable to make off with the baby but he allegedly ripped the cover off the stroller and then charged at oncoming traffic nearby.
"The Crown ultimately wasn't satisfied that given the evidence of intoxication, we would be able to establish the higher level of intent that's necessary to get convictions on those charges (of kidnapping and abduction)," Mackenzie said. "But there is not the same degree of intent for charges of assault...intoxication is not a potential defence to charges of assault and so ultimately Crown accepted the guilty pleas to the assault on the mother of the child and assaulting a peace officer."
Prior to sentencing on Monday, Lucas had already spent six months in custody, Mackenzie noted, for an effective sentence of one year. Lucas also sentenced to three years probation.
