Alberta's top court dismisses Crown appeal of sentence of man in Calgary chef murder
Anthony Dodgson was found guilty in 2023 by a jury of second-degree murder after fatally stabbing Christophe Herblin while his accomplice, Tommie Holloway, was convicted of manslaughter.
Court heard Dodgson and Holloway broke into the restaurant with plans to get through a wall into an adjacent cannabis shop. They fled when a car drove by and returned later to continue their robbery attempt but became frustrated when Herblin showed up.
Holloway smashed Herblin's car windows in order to lure him into the parking lot. Dodgson attacked him and stabbed him nine times.
Herblin was a longtime executive sous chef at the Glencoe Golf and Country Club, and his new restaurant was weeks away from opening.
He stumbled to a nearby gas station seeking help but soon died.
Dodgson received a life sentence with his parole eligibility set at 12 years.
During Elections
Get campaign news, insight, analysis and commentary delivered to your inbox during Canada's 2025 election.
The Crown asked for the parole eligibility be increased in the 15 to 18-year range because the original sentence was 'not proportionate to the gravity of the offence' and that the judge erred in treating Dodgson's troubled Indigenous upbringing as a mitigating impact on his culpability.
The appeal court disagreed even though the sentence was on the 'low end' of what was available.
'We are unable to conclude that the sentencing judge made an error in principle that would justify the courts intervention,' writes Justice Bernette Ho on behalf of the appeal court.
'We are not persuaded it is appropriate to sentence afresh.'
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 1, 2025.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Sun
4 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
Defence pushes back in 'Creeper Hunter' intimidation trial
Jason Nassr can't take back the words he said during a testy cross-examination two years ago. Jason Nassr leaves the courthouse in London on Oct. 30, 2023. (Derek Ruttan/The London Free Press) Jason Nassr can't take back the words he said during a testy cross-examination two years ago. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account But Superior Court Justice James Stribopoulos must decide at Nassr's trial this week if the 45-year-old self-styled child predator vigilante suddenly invoked the name of an assistant Crown attorney's child at his 2023 trial to strike fear in the prosecutor and interfere with his ability to do his job. In closing arguments Tuesday, assistant Crown attorney Thomas Mack argued Nassr knew what he was doing, while defence lawyer Ingrid Grant suggested Nassr spoke in anger without having a chance to complete his point and give context to his comment. Nassr, creator of the now-defunct Creeper Hunter TV website, went on trial Monday for intimidating a justice participant – namely, the assistant Crown attorney who prosecuted him two years ago. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. In a heated cross-examination after Nassr testified in his own defence, the prosecutor suggested part of Nassr's motivation to have highly sexualized text conversations with adult strangers – while pretending to be a young girl – was sexual gratification. 'I know you have a kid named (child's name),' Nassr said to the prosecutor, adding, 'And I know . . .' before he was cut off by Justice Alissa Mitchell, who sent the jury out, admonished him for his comment and conduct, and suggested he could face a contempt charge if he kept it up. That exchange came at Nassr's first trial in early 2023 over his activities as an online vigilante who claimed to ferret out suspected child predators by posing as a young woman on adult dating sites, then after piquing someone's interest he shifted the highly sexual conversation to texts, in which he would claim to be a 12- or 13-year-old girl. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. All this activity was recorded by Nassr. The ultimate goal was to set up a face-to-face meeting where Nassr would film the 'gotcha' moment, then edit together a website episode, including the names, ages and hometowns of the targets. His text exchanges with a 49-year-old London-area man, 10 months after Nassr first had a text conversation with the man, sparked a police probe. The man denied sending the texts, telling Nassr his phone had been stolen. But police were called to investigate and the man took his own life soon after. After a five-week trial, a jury convicted Nassr of extortion, harassment by telecommunications and two counts of child pornography through written materials. He received a two-year conditional sentence, including 18 months of house arrest, followed by two years of probation. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Read More Nassr has appealed the verdicts and sentence. His trial this week is expected to end Wednesday. The Crown called only the prosecutor and Nassr opted not to call any evidence. Mack argued that evidence points to one conclusion: 'Mr. Nassr intended to create a state of fear in (the prosecutor) . . . to impede him in this line of cross examination that Mr. Nassr found particularly objectionable.' In the exchange before the comment, Nassr, who Mack said already had a perceived beef with the prosecutor from previous dealings, was seething that the prosecutor would call his sexuality into question. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The prosecutor testified Nassr lowered his voice, looked him in the eye 'in almost a cold and calculating manner' before invoking his child's name. The Crown doesn't think Nassr was trying to derail the trial or force the prosecutor off the case, but wanted to 'create a state of fear' to stop the line of cross-examination, Mack said. There was no explanation why Nassr knew the child's name and the prosecutor knew Nassr was 'extremely adept at locating targets, . . . able to intrude digitally into people's lives and . . . went to significant lengths to extort, harass and shame targets.' The prosecutor testified he was stunned by the comment, needed time to compose himself and invoked security protocols for his family. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'I think (the prosecutor's) reaction is the natural consequence of somebody looking a parent in the eye during an acrimonious proceeding moments after yelling at them, . . . and telling them that they know your child's name for no apparent reason,' Mack said. But Grant argued there's no way of knowing what Nassr meant because the judge cut him off. 'We know exactly what Mr. Nassr said, but . . . we don't know what he was going to say. He did not finish his sentence,' she said. He was making a point, she said, likely 'something about him being accused of being what I'm going to call 'pedophile adjacent' and that he in some way is turned on sexually by pretending to be a child and getting adult men to engage sexually with him.' The follow-up might have been the prosecutor wouldn't stand for being accused of sexual impropriety involving children, Grant said. It might have been an innocent follow-up. 'But he is expressing something and we cannot infer this sort of sinister intent when we have only this partial statement,' she said. Nassr was 'speaking off the cuff,' Grant said. 'We're talking about cross-examination. We're talking about a person who is upset, who's not contemplating the niceties of what he's going to say.' jsims@ Toronto Maple Leafs Columnists World Toronto & GTA Crime
CTV News
21 hours ago
- CTV News
Sask. family speaks out after health workers shave woman's head
Watch WATCH: An Indigenous woman's family is preparing to launch a formal complain against the Saskatchewan Health Authority after her hair was cut without consent.
Winnipeg Free Press
a day ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Man charged with assault after attack on Jewish father in Montreal caught on video
MONTREAL – Montreal police say a 23-year-old man has been charged in the assault of a Jewish father at a park last week. Sergio Yanes Preciado was charged with assault causing bodily harm, and appeared briefly before a judge from a detention centre in Montreal's north end. The Crown has objected to his release, and he is scheduled to return to court Wednesday for a bail hearing. Police say the 32-year-old father was assaulted on Aug. 8 while he was with his young children in Dickie Moore park in the borough of Villeray—St-Michel—Parc-Extension. They say the victim was sprayed with a bottle of water and when he tried to confront the accused he was pushed to the ground, punched and kneed before his assailant fled on foot. The incident was partly captured on video, and the accused was arrested on Monday. This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 12, 2025.
