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
DEVELOPING Person on fire outside Trump's hush money trial rushed away on a stretcher
A person who was on fire in a park outside the New York courthouse where Donald Trump’s hush money trial is taking place has been rushed away on a stretcher.
Mandisa, Grammy award-winning 'American Idol' alum, dead at 47
Soulful gospel artist Mandisa, a Grammy-winning singer who got her start as a contestant on 'American Idol' in 2006, has died, according to a statement on her verified social media. She was 47.
Senators reject field trip to African Lion Safari amid elephant bill study
The Senate legal affairs committee has rejected a motion calling for members to take a $50,000 field trip to the African Lion Safari in southern Ontario to see the zoo's elephant exhibit.
CFIA monitoring for avian flu in Canadian dairy cattle after U.S. discoveries
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency is encouraging veterinarians to keep an eye out for signs of avian influenza in dairy cattle following recent discoveries of cases of the disease in U.S. cow herds.
She set out to find a husband in a year. Then she matched with a guy on a dating app on the other side of the world
Scottish comedian Samantha Hannah was working on a comedy show about finding a husband when Toby Hunter came into her life. What happened next surprised them both.
DEVELOPING G7 warns of new sanctions against Iran as world reacts to apparent Israeli drone attack
Group of Seven foreign ministers warned of new sanctions against Iran on Friday for its drone and missile attack on Israel, and urged both sides to avoid an escalation of the conflict.
'It could be catastrophic': Woman says natural supplement contained hidden painkiller drug
A Manitoba woman thought she found a miracle natural supplement, but said a hidden ingredient wreaked havoc on her health.
After hearing thousands of last words, this hospital chaplain has advice for the living
Hospital chaplain J.S. Park opens up about death, grief and hearing thousands of last words, and shares his advice for the living.
Vancouver firefighter in rehab at home after losing leg to flesh-eating infection overseas
A family trip took a frightening turn for Christopher Won when he was diagnosed with flesh-eating disease while in Hong Kong and now, after weeks of treatment overseas, the Vancouver firefighter is back home recovering.