Jamar Leon Ashby had two years shaved off his jail term by the Court of Appeal, which held that the trial judge had engaged in “double counting” during his sentencing.
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Ashby, of Montrose, Christ Church, had pleaded guilty to entering Luther Mayers’ home between September 23 and October 1, 2017, and stealing a living room set, four tables, a vase, mirror, dining room table set, clock, air-conditioning unit, television, DVD player, an ornament, a bed set, vacuum cleaner, toaster oven and a printer, of total value $25 950.
He has 23 previous convictions – 13 for robbery, five for assault occasioning actual bodily harm, three for theft, and one each for wounding and criminal damage.
Justice Laurie-Ann Smith-Bovell had ordered him to serve six years, 241 days after deductions from the 15-year starting point.
However, through his attorney Senior Counsel Angella Mitchell-Gittens, Ashby contended that the sentence was excessive.
Justice of Appeal Francis Belle, who read the court’s decision, said the State conceded that the judge had considered Ashby’s previous convictions and this resulted in double counting.
Belle, who presided with Justices of Appeal William Chandler and Jacqueline
Cornelius, said those concerned with the objective seriousness of the offence were factored in.
He noted the trial judge said she found the aggravating outweighed the mitigating factors and increased the starting point by a year. The time was then reduced by a year and the one-third discount for the guilty plea was then applied. He added that the judge then deducted the 839 days Adams spent on remand.
“The court is of the view that the sentencing court addressed the aggravating factors to the starting point and then had added on another year for the aggravating factors for the offender,” Belle said.
“It is clear the sentence should be reduced by two years to correct the double counting. The final sentence should be four years, 241 days. We do agree that 13 years is not an excessive sentence for this offence,” he said, as he reduced the trial judge’s starting point from 15 years to 13.
The Court of Appeal then ordered that Ashby’s sentence commence on July 14, 2021, the date of his conviction.