A Prince George man who was at the centre of a manhunt in the Quinson neighbourhood last spring will spend three more months in jail after pleading guilty to two of the charges for which police were seeking his arrest.
Robert Lee Milligan, 31, was wanted for pointing a sawed-off rifle at a house party in the 1400 block of Jarvis Street on April 3 when, about three weeks later, police received word he was in a Quinson-area home.
Concerned that he was armed and dangerous, police closed off access to as many as 100 homes in the area before scaling it back to about 50. After a search of more than 12 hours, Milligan was finally apprehended at a home near Dezell Drive and Patterson Street.
On Thursday in Prince George provincial court, Milligan, who has remained in custody since his arrested, pleaded guilty to two of the nine charges he faced - pointing a firearm and knowingly possessing a firearm without a licence.
He was sentenced to nine months time served plus one day on the first count and to three additional months on the second one, as well as to one year probation.
Prior to sentencing, the court heard that at the house party, a couple got into a shouting match and in response Milligan pulled a sawed-off .22 calibre rifle out of a duffle bag he had brought with him, pointed it at the man and encouraged him to stop arguing.
The two calmed down, the party resumed with everyone drinking excessively and Milligan eventually passed out. Worried about Milligan's behaviour, another man took the opportunity to remove the rifle from him and take it to a relative from where he called RCMP.
The rifle held a loaded magazine and a round in its chamber, but RCMP also discovered it was inoperable because of a burr in the gun's interior receiver. It took investigators about 10 minutes of filing to remove the burr, the court also heard.
It was also not clear if the round in the chamber was due to Milligan's actions or those of the man who took the gun away. The man admitted he did not know much about guns and may have cocked it in a misguided effort to disarm the weapon.
Had Milligan not pleaded guilty, a trial estimated to take at least 10 days was scheduled to begin Thursday and two of the eyewitnesses were refusing to testify.
In issuing the sentence, provincial court judge Randall Callan agreed to a joint proposal from Crown and defence counsel but not before scolding Milligan.
"I think that when it comes to firearms offences, very few people realize what bullets can do with regard to things like shredding, tearing, ripping through people," Callan told Milligan. "You were in close proximity to these folks you were at the party with, so pointing a firearm at them is a very serious matter.
"And my initial inclination, given that this weapon had a magazine full of bullets and was sawed off to boot, would be to reject the joint submission and adjourn for more submissions on sentencing because that is not the kind of event that can be tolerated."
However, Callan also noted Milligan's decision to plead guilty to two of the counts, thus preventing the time and cost of a 10-day trial, the fact the gun could not be fired, the progress he has made on completing high school and learning job-related skills while in custody and the support from his family - about a half dozen relatives were in the courtroom gallery at the time.
"Obviously, you are indicating you are trying to turn yourself around," Callan said.
The court had also heard Milligan has two young daughters in care of a foster family and is working towards gaining ongoing access and possibly reuniting with them as a parent.
Milligan had also faced five other firearms or weapons-related charges as well as one count each of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm and breach of probation.
No mention of the police search for Milligan was made during the proceeding.
Milligan continues to face a charge of trafficking in a controlled substance from an alleged August 2012 incident, along with co-accused Jason Alexander Hall. That matter is set to go to trial in late August.
