B.C. Appeal Court won't chop sentence for man who abducted 3-year-old boy

VANCOUVER -- A child abductor's claim of serving hard time wasn't enough to convince a British Columbia Appeal Court panel to soften his final prison sentence.

Randall Hopley snuck a three-year-old boy from his Sparwood, B.C., bedroom while the rest of the family slept in September 2011.

Kienan Hebert was returned four days later physically unharmed, and Hopley eventually pleaded guilty to abducting the boy, breaking and entering and possession of stolen property.

A lower-court judge determined Hopley, who is now about 50 years old, was a long-term offender and handed down a six-year sentence after 26 months were deducted for the time he served before sentencing.

His lawyer appealed, arguing the judge should have given Hopley a day-and-a-half credit for every pre-sentencing day he spent in custody because the man was segregated.

Segregation was for Hopley's safety but is usually viewed as "hard time," his lawyer argued.

But in a decision released Friday, B.C.'s high court refused to take the extra 13 months off Hopley's sentence, ruling a longer prison term was for public protection.

"The judge found that it was unlikely Mr. Hopley's substantial risk to re-offend would be sufficiently reduced to a level that could be managed in the community without a lengthy period of incarceration," wrote Justice Daphne Smith in the ruling.

The lower-court judge hoped that during that time he would complete a high-intensity, sex-offender program, the ruling noted.

The three-judge panel ruled that sentencing in Hopley's case is more than a matter of arithmetic.

"This is particularly so in dealing with high-risk offenders who require exceptional sentences."

Hopley's B.C. Supreme Court trial heard he had an extensive criminal record and was on bail when he broke into the Hebert family home and abducted the boy.

The sentencing judge said mitigating circumstances included the facts that Hopley returned the boy unharmed, took steps to ensure that the child would be found where he left him and that he pleaded guilty.

The panel said the lower-court judge considered all relevant factors in the sentencing, including the protection of children.

The panel dismissed Hopley's appeal, ruling it couldn't find any mistakes by the lower-court judge in applying the lower rate for pre-sentence custody.