Shooting a police officer by mistake during a raid was a turning point for a man who always previously refused to cooperate with police.
Mitch Alexander Hutchinson, 49, shot an RCMP officer as they surrounded a house getting ready to raid the rural property north of Biggar in the R.M. of Glenside during a drug bust.
Federal Crown Prosecutor Kirsten Janis told the Saskatoon Provincial Court on July 15 that Hutchinson – who has prior criminal convictions – always refused to talk to the police, never gave them information.
But that changed after he shot an officer.
The Saskatchewan RCMP Federal Serious and Organized Crime Unit had surrounded a rural house May 14 and the officers in tactical gear were hidden from sight. It was dark, shortly after midnight. Hutchinson heard noises outside, and thinking it was a coyote, grabbed a rifle and pulled the trigger, shooting into the blackness of the night.
The bullet hit one of the officers. The officer was treated immediately for minor injuries, the court heard. Hutchinson surrendered shortly after, was arrested and provided a confession, said Janis.
The confession and early guilty plea show “a certain degree of remorse,” Judge Marilyn Gray said before sentencing Hutchinson.
In his confession, Hutchinson admitted that he sold drugs and it was his job to protect the rural house, which is owned by his co-accused.
The court heard that around May 11 the police had information that drug activity was happening at the rural property north of Biggar. They conducted surveillance on the owner of the rural property and arrested him in Regina on May 13. The police then obtained a search warrant for the rural home.
Hutchinson’s criminal record was entered into court, including convictions in 1991 in Red Deer, Alta., 1996 in Maidstone, Sask., and 2014 in Vegreville, Alta., which included a firearms prohibition.
Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle told the court that Hutchinson has struggled with addiction his entire life after having survived a “tumultuous childhood and upbringing.”
He said Hutchinson is from Red Deer, Alta., spent the majority of his life there and worked in the oil patch after a childhood of poverty.
Pfefferle told the court that when Hutchinson found out he had shot an officer that is when he “laid it all out” to the police, adding, Hutchinson wouldn’t talk to them before.
Pfefferle said Hutchinson’s confession is a mitigating factor in sentencing, adding, “There is significant quid pro quo here.”
During the police raid of the rural home May 14, police seized methamphetamine, fentanyl, GHB, Xanax pills and LSD. They also seized numerous weapons including a semi-automatic rifle, a shotgun, a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun, a spent anti-tank weapons, a revolver and body armour. They also found $16,080 in Canadian currency, money counters, packaging for drugs, eight cell phones, computers and tablets.
Hutchinson was charged with 18 offences and he pleaded guilty to possession of a loaded, prohibited firearm and possession of a firearm loaded with ammunition. He also pleaded guilty to four counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking fentanyl, GHB, LSD and meth.
Hutchinson was sentenced to a total of seven years in prison and given 95 days credit for time served in jail while waiting for his trial.
The court ordered Hutchinson to provide a DNA sample and imposed a lifetime ban on owning firearms. He will also be assessed for addictions treatment and considered for transfer to Alberta to serve his sentence so he can be closer to his family support system.
Correction: An earlier version of the story said it was the RCMP Saskatchewan Emergency Response Team. It was in fact the Saskatchewan RCMP Federal Serious and Organized Crime Unit
