Sask. father found guilty of withholding daughter during pandemic to give sentencing submission in his own defence

Michael Gordon Jackson is scheduled to present arguments for sentencing as part of his own defence.

Jackson, 55, was found guilty by a jury in April following two weeks of proceedings for contravention of a custody order for withholding his then 7-year-old daughter from her mother in late 2021 to early 2022 to prevent her from getting a COVID-19 vaccine.

He is representing himself in the proceedings.

Justice Heather MacMillian-Brown allowed Jackson extra time to build his defense submissions after he claimed in court on August 9 he did not receive neither the Crown’s nor his Amicus’ submission briefs until arriving at court that morning.

“We’ve granted this opportunity to allow Mr. Jackson to digest those written materials,” the judge said.

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The Crown is requesting a two-year prison sentence plus an additional three years probation and 200 hours of community service.

As proceedings wrapped up 10 days ago, Justice MacMillian-Brown commented on the possibility of what’s called a conditional sentence order.

“I am going to want to hear from [the Crown] on the possibility of a conditional sentence,” she said. “I think the case could be ripe for a conditional sentence.”

Before being granted bail, Jackson spent over a year in custody.

Meaning he already has a credited time served of 541 days. Leaving 199 remaining of the possible two-year sentence.

Justice MacMillian-Brown will hand down her final sentence decision October 21.