A B.C. Supreme Court judge rejected the Crown’s bid to have Christopher Prokopchuk declared a dangerous offender and jailed indefinitely for a 2021 attempted robbery in Surrey. Justice Barbara Norrell instead designated him a long-term offender, imposing 5.5 years less time served, plus a 10-year supervision order.
The Crown’s case for an indefinite sentence
Crown lawyers argued that Prokopchuk, whose criminal record spans 30 years of robbery, parole offences and assaults while in custody, deserved an indeterminate sentence after he pleaded guilty to an attempted robbery committed in Surrey in 2021. Prosecutors believed his issues were “intractable,” and that the “only path forward to adequately protect the public” was for him to earn any release under an indeterminate sentence.
Justice Barbara Norrell’s ruling, posted online on Wednesday, traces a record dating back to 1996, through break-and-enters, thefts, probation violations, drug offences and multiple bank robberies in British Columbia. It also describes an unusual pattern: Prokopchuk repeatedly left fingerprints at robbery scenes on purpose so he would be caught, and in one case waited for police to arrive after smashing a window.
“Mr. Prokopchuk indicated that he wanted to be sentenced and go back to jail. He purposely did not wear gloves for most of the crimes, knowing he would leave fingerprints,” Norrell wrote of offences committed in Terrace in 2007, which earned him a five-year sentence and would not have been solved without his co-operation.
‘Acts of desperation’
The judge found his most recent offences — the attempted robbery of a credit union — were possibly driven by the same motive, calling them “acts of desperation” by an unhoused man. “When the police arrive, he immediately surrendered and fell to the ground. It is possible the most recent offending was just wanting to go back to jail,” she wrote, describing video of the 2021 arrest.
Norrell ruled the Crown had not met the burden for a dangerous-offender designation. Prosecutors acknowledged they could not show a likelihood that Prokopchuk would cause death or physical injuries in future, and the judge found that any “psychological damage” he might cause in future offences would not rise to the level the designation requires. She noted that his bank robberies over the years, some committed with imitation firearms, did not involve overt violent threats or any “menacing” of the tellers.
A long-term offender instead
The court did find, beyond a reasonable doubt, that Prokopchuk poses “a substantial risk” of reoffending, satisfying the test for a long-term offender designation. Norrell sentenced him to five and a half years in jail, less time served — he has been in custody since his September 2021 arrest — leaving two years and 13 days on the sentence, followed by a 10-year long-term supervision order in the community. Crucially, she concluded there is a “reasonable possibility of eventual control in the community.”
The difference the label makes
The distinction between the two designations is the difference between a sentence with an end date and one without. A dangerous offender can be detained in a penitentiary for an indeterminate period, released only if the Parole Board of Canada is satisfied the risk can be managed. The designation is typically reserved for violent criminals and sexual offenders whose pattern of conduct shows a likelihood of causing death or serious harm.
A long-term offender, by contrast, serves a determinate sentence and is then supervised in the community for up to 10 years under conditions, with breaches punishable by further custody. Before choosing the lesser measure over indeterminate detention, a court must be satisfied there is a reasonable possibility the offender’s risk can eventually be controlled in the community — the finding Norrell made here, even as she accepted that the risk Prokopchuk poses is substantial and long-standing.
