The court heard that 38-year-old Weeseekase has 75 prior criminal convictions. “That is very, very sad,” said Judge Kim Young. Judge Young said Weeseekase isn’t beyond redemption and there could be some hope for him in the future. “But as Mr. Holm points out, usually in their old age people slow down and they don’t have the energy level to keep up the criminal activity but that’s not so with Mr. Weeseekase. He just keeps going like the energizer bunny. That is very, very unfortunate. “Protecting the public for as long as possible is a major, major factor in sentencing; to keep Mr. Weeseekase away from other members of the community so he can’t harm them,” said Judge Young.
North Battleford Crown Prosecutor Oryn Holm and defence lawyer Don Smith entered a joint submission to the court for a nine-month conditional sentence. Charges of discharging a firearm with intent to endanger life and assault of a police officer with a weapon were withdrawn. McAlpine and four others were charged after an incident on Onion Lake Cree Nation on Jan. 1, 2021. Holm told the court there was no evidence McAlpine in any way encouraged the flight from the police or shooting at the police, and she was in the vehicle when the incident happened but not a willing participant. He said her culpability comes from the knowledge that there were firearms in the vehicle.
“I was convinced that day it was only a matter of time until the accused’s SUV or bullets killed someone,” said RCMP Const. Jacob Isaac who was involved in the pursuit on Onion Lake Cree Nation Jan. 1, 2021. “This was a feeling very few will experience and was a heavy burden on all of us to accept that we had to potentially die trying to stop this out-of-control threat to society. “I can remember hearing the updates on the radio as we all pursued and I think to myself ‘how do we stop this before someone dies?’ As various scenarios ran through my head on how to stop them, very few had the likelihood of coming out uninjured or (not) killed,” said Const. Isaac. “I’m confident my co-workers had the same gut wrenching thoughts.”