A former Prince George gangster's bid to lessen the length of his prison term has been cut short by the B.C. Court of Appeal.
In a decision issued Tuesday, a three-justice panel unanimously rejected Jacobi Blu Farrell's application for an extension of the time to appeal his sentence of three years, issued in August 2013 after he was convicted of possessing loaded prohibited firearms.
Had the extension been granted, Farrell would have sought to have the duration lowered to 2 1/2 years in light of a Supreme Court of Canada decision this year that struck down the three-year mandatory minimum for such offences.
But, in part, the court found Farrell's proposed appeal lacked the merit to justify an extension.
It was noted that in striking down the mandatory minimum, the top court still upheld the original sentence of 40 months for the appellant in that case, Hussein Jama Nur.
A contrast between Nur and Farrell was drawn.
Nur was described as "a 19-year-old 'exceptional student and athlete' who volunteered in the community and held part-time jobs. He had no criminal record and had pleaded guilty to possession of a loaded .22 calibre handgun for a brief period while outside a community centre."
Farrell, on the other hand, was found to have been possessing the weapons - a loaded Beretta semiautomatic pistol, a loaded sawed-off Mossberg shotgun, and a sawed-off Winchester shotgun - in his role as a drug dealer and a mid-level gang member.
The Berretta had been illegally imported, the shotguns lacked serial numbers and there was a "plethora" of other weapons strewn about the home where Farrell was arrested, including ammunition cartridges, swords and knives.
Moreover, since the Supreme Court's decision on Nur, the B.C. Court of Appeal increased the sentence for a 66-year-old man with no criminal record, Terrance David Holt, to 30 months from 18 months, after a handgun and ammunition were found in a backpack in his vehicle.
