Crown asks court to correct hunter's record after sentence mistake

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Dead deer lying in the snow. (Conservation Officer Service - Facebook) — Picture of a dead deer lying in the snow, issued when Richard Dawson Smith was initally sentenced for violating the Wildlife Act. (Conservation Officer Service – Facebook)

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — A Crown lawyer says the record should be corrected for a hunter who was acquitted in Prince George of violating a court order.

In a January 27th submission to BC Supreme Court in Fort St. John, Lara Vizsolyi said Provincial Court Judge Oliver Fleck erred in failing to adhere to the joint Crown and defence sentencing proposal, which he had clearly accepted.

Richard Dawson Smith pleaded guilty under the Wildlife Act on December 13th, 2022, to hunting on cultivated land without the owner’s permission and avoided trial in the Peace region.

Under a plea bargain, Smith was ordered to retake the Conservation Outdoor Recreation Education (CORE) safety and ethics course by March 31st, 2023, before hunting or accompanying another hunter again after that date.

Smith relied on the signed order and continued to hunt. He retook CORE in April of that year due to course availability.

When Fleck pronounced the sentence, he inadvertently altered the wording of the joint submission.

A conservation officer, who believed Smith violated the order as pronounced by Fleck, contacted Crown counsel, who sought to have the order corrected.

Fleck signed the corrected or amended order, but nobody advised Smith, and he was not provided a copy.

In May 2024, Smith was charged with violating the court order by hunting and shooting a lynx on December 28th, 2022.

On January 10th, 2025, however, Provincial Court Judge Cassandra Malfair acquitted Smith because Fleck had misspoken during sentencing and did not intend to change the negotiated sentence.

Both parties had failed to notice the change in wording, and Smith correctly understood he was able to continue hunting until March 31st, 2023, Vizsolyi wrote.

“While technically, the appeal is moot, the appellant will continue to have to deal with conservation officers as hunting forms an important part of his life and the record should reflect that he abided by the terms of the order intended to form part of his sentence,” the submission said.

Last December, Smith sued the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, the B.C. Conservation Officer Service, and four officers for defamation.