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
B.C. tenants evicted for landlord's use after refusing large rent increase to take over neighbouring suite
Ashley Dickey and her mother rented part of the same Coquitlam duplex in three different decades under three different landlords.
Mountain guide dies after falling into a crevasse in Banff National Park
A man who fell into a crevasse while leading a backcountry ski group deep in the Canadian Rockies has died.
Expert warns of food consumption habits amid rising prices
A new survey by Dalhousie University's Agri-Food Analytics Lab asked Canadians about their food consumption habits amid rising prices.
MPP Sarah Jama asked to leave Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
MPP Sarah Jama was asked to leave the Legislative Assembly of Ontario by House Speaker Ted Arnott on Thursday for wearing a keffiyeh, a garment which has been banned at Queen’s Park.
Charlie Woods, son of Tiger, shoots 81 in U.S. Open qualifier
Charlie Woods failed to advance in a U.S. Open local qualifying event Thursday, shooting a 9-over 81 at Legacy Golf & Tennis Club.
Ex-tabloid publisher testifies he scooped up possibly damaging tales to shield his old friend Trump
As Donald Trump was running for president in 2016, his old friend at the National Enquirer was scooping up potentially damaging stories about the candidate and paying out tens of thousands of dollars to keep them from the public eye.
Here's why provinces aren't following Saskatchewan's lead on the carbon tax home heating fight
After Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government would still send Canada Carbon Rebate cheques to Saskatchewan residents, despite Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe's decision to stop collecting the carbon tax on natural gas or home heating, questions were raised about whether other provinces would follow suit. CTV News reached out across the country and here's what we found out.
Montreal actress calls Weinstein ruling 'discouraging' but not surprising
A Montreal actress, who has previously detailed incidents she had with disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, says a New York Court of Appeals decision overturning his 2020 rape conviction is 'discouraging' but not surprising.
Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye make it four NFL drafts with quarterbacks going 1-3
Caleb Williams is heading to the Windy City, aiming to become the franchise quarterback Chicago has sought for decades.