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Cherry Creek man with ‘horrendous’ driving record handed 12-month suspended sentence

Richard Marshall failed to stop for police while driving at high speed without a licence in 2021
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Kamloops Court House. (Kamloops This Week photo)

By Breanne Massey, Kamloops This Week

A Cherry Creek man with four dangerous-driving convictions and a conviction for failing to stop for police has been handed a one-year suspended sentence for his latest transgressions — driving while prohibited and failing to stop for police.

The latest incident took place in Cherry Creek on Aug. 18, 2021, when Richard J.E. Marshall, 44, was seen driving a motorcycle on Highway 1 near the gas station in Cherry Creek at 166 km/h while having no licence.

In Kamloops provincial court on Jan. 26, Judge Stella Frame heard that when police attempted to pull him over for speeding, Marshall accelerated and Mounties chased him until they deemed it unsafe to do so.

Court heard police continued to travel along Highway 1. When traffic slowed, and police saw that Marshall was stuck in the congestion, they pursued him again, eventually stopping him and learning he was prohibited from driving.

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“Your record is really quite horrendous,” Frame told Marshall before handing down a 12-month suspended sentence, a penalty requested by Crown prosecutor Evan Goulet and two months more than suggested by defence lawyer John Gustafson.

In addition, Marshall was levied a three-year driving prohibition, fined $1,000, to be paid within 10 months, and ordered to serve 25 hours of community service within the next 10 months.

Marshall has a long record of dangerous driving convictions in 2005, 2007, 2008 and 2009 as well as a 2004 conviction for failing to stop for police.

Marshall declined to speak when asked if he had any comments for the court before a sentence was determined.

Gustafson told court Marshall had been homeless at a young age and began struggling with opiate addiction early in his life. Gustafson said Marshall supports four children with his current partner in Cherry Creek and supports a daughter in Quebec.

Gustafson said Marshall’s common-law partner has been driving Marshall to work in downtown Kamloops, where he was expected to begin leadership training last week. Gustafson said Marshall also volunteers weekly at the Out of the Cold Shelter program in Kamloops.

Following his sentence, Marshall asked Frame if snowmobiles and dirt bikes were included in his driving prohibition and Gustafson jumped in to tell him that he would be given advice after court.



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