B.C. man who led 'military-style' bank robbery in U.S. has sentence reduced
A British Columbia man who led a "military-style" bank robbery and later tried to hire someone to murder a U.S. federal prosecutor has won a reduced prison sentence due his age at the time of the crimes and his behaviour while incarcerated, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Seattle.
Luke Elliott Sommer, 36, successfully petitioned a U.S. district judge Wednesday to reduce his 43-year sentence to 31 years, despite the judge characterizing his crimes as "some of the most extreme, violent and dangerous actions to come before this court."
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Washington described Sommer in a news release as the mastermind of an August 2006 robbery at a Bank of America branch in Tacoma, Wash.
Five men, including Sommer, carried out the robbery. Two were armed with fully automatic AK-47 rifles, while Sommer and another carried semi-automatic handguns. All wore body armour and carried hundreds of rounds of ammunition in the event of a shootout with police, according to the attorney's office.
Sommer, then 20 years old, planned to use the proceeds of the robbery to start a criminal gang in B.C. that would rival the Hell's Angels.
'I WILL NEVER BE THE SAME'
A dual citizen of Canada and the U.S., Sommer is a former U.S. Army Ranger who served tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He plotted the robbery with fellow British Columbians Tigra Robertson and Nathan Dunmall, and fellow Army Rangers Chad Palmer and Alex Blum.
"If the police arrived, Luke Sommer planned to go to war," the proseuctor said at the sentencing of one of his co-defendants. "The robbers were armed for combat."
The men made off with more than US$50,000 but were later tracked down when their car was traced to their military barracks.
Three victims of the robbery told a Seattle court Wednesday that they suffered post-traumatic stress and anxiety in the wake of the crime. The former branch manager described the shock of seeing the red dot of Sommer’s laser site pointed at her bank teller employees.
"The staff was never the same, I will never be the same," the manager said.
Sommer was convicted and sentenced in 2008 for armed bank robbery, conspiracy to commit armed bank robbery, brandishing a firearm during a violent crime, and possession of a hand grenade.
Barely a month later, he offered an FBI informant US$20,000 to murder the assistant U.S. attorney who convicted him, telling the would-be hitman he wanted the death to appear as a "murder, not an accident," according to the attorney's office.
The attempt to hire a hitman, as well as a knife assault on one of his co-defendants while incarcerated, would earn Sommer an additional 20-year sentence.
On Wednesday, U.S. Attorney Nick Brown said Sommer expressed remorse for his crimes and told the court and his victims that years of incarceration had changed him.
"He claims to be committed to working on his reform and doing what is right," Brown said in the release. "He now has more than a decade to demonstrate that commitment while he remains incarcerated."
In reducing Sommer's sentence, the judge noted that "punishment is not vengeance or retaliation," adding he had arrived at his decision after considering letters from U.S. Bureau of Prisons staff who wrote that Sommer had "worked hard to do the right thing while incarcerated."
Fellow Canadians Dunmall, 34, and Robertson, 36, were released from U.S. prison in 2012 and 2015, respectively.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
U.S. Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with big bipartisan vote
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.