Staff
Former district resident Donald Smith, now living in Kenora, was sentenced here Monday to a total fine of $28,000, along with two years’ probation and 240 hours of community service, after being found guilty last May on four counts related to making, possessing, and distributing obscene material.
Justice Jack McCartney of Thunder Bay sentenced Smith as follows:
•a $2,000 fine on a count of making obscene matter (videotapes, and audio and visual representations made by electronic means and stored on a computer);
•a $2,000 fine on a count of making obscene matter (videotapes, and audio and visual representations made by electronic means and stored on a computer);
•a $4,000 fine on a count of possessing obscene matter for the purposes of distribution (audio and visual representations made by electronic means and stored on a computer); and
•a $20,000 fine on a count of distributing obscene matter via a website.
Justice McCartney also ruled the 240 hours of community service must be completed in the first 18 months.
This was Smith’s second trial regarding the obscenity charges, which stem from an investigation by the Fort Frances OPP back in October, 2000.
In late 2002, a jury here found Smith guilty on five charges, including two counts of making videotapes featuring undue exploitation of sex and violence, one count of possessing similar material on a computer for the purposes of distribution, and two counts of distributing obscene matter via a website.
The sentence included a precedent-setting $100,000 fine.
Smith also was ordered to revoke any interest in his website on which the material deemed obscene was available, including any copyrights; not access the Internet nor reside in a place where access to the Internet is available; and not participate, in any way, in any website in the future.
The defence appealed to the Ontario Court of Appeal, which was heard in the summer of 2005. An order for a new trial on four of the five convictions was called, and Smith’s $100,000 fine was reduced to $2,000.
After that, both the Crown and the defence applied for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.
That leave was denied in February, 2006 and, as a result, the order for the new trial on four counts remained.
This was followed by a series of pre-trial applications since May, 2007, with a number of applications by the defence to have charges stayed and evidence dismissed.
These applications were dismissed.
The second trial then got underway May 12, with assistant Crown Attorney Kent Saliwonchyk as prosecutor, Kenora lawyer John Bilton representing Smith, and Justice McCartney presiding.
A jury found Smith guilty on the four counts on May 29.
