NORTH BATTLEFORD – Sentencing for a man charged in a drug bust north of Biggar where an RCMP officer was shot is delayed.
Kurt Miller, 40, was to be sentenced Tuesday but defence, B.C. lawyer Robert Dick, requested it be delayed for a month and federal Crown Kirsten Janis didn’t object to the adjournment. Judge Murray Pelletier adjourned Miller’s sentencing to Feb. 22 in North Battleford Provincial Court.
Crown and defence have reached a joint submission and “a period of incarceration” is expected, Dick told the court by telephone. Dick said that Crown had consented to Miller being released in December on a significant bail so he could get his affairs in order before being sent to prison.
Miller was arrested in May 2020 during a traffic stop in Regina. The next day, the Saskatchewan RCMP Federal Serious and Organized Crime Unit raided Miller's rural house in the R.M. of Glenside 27 kilometres north of Biggar and arrested Mitch Hutchinson, 49.
As a result of the traffic stop by Regina Police, Miller was charged with drug trafficking offences. He was also charged with possession of proceeds of crime under $5,000, possession of a weapon dangerous to the public and breach of probation. After a search of the rural property, Miller was charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of the proceeds of crime over $5,000 and 16 firearms-related charges.
In July 2020, Hutchinson was sentenced to seven years in prison after he pleaded guilty in Saskatoon Provincial Court to shooting the officer. The court heard that Hutchinson mistakenly shot an RCMP officer thinking the officer was a coyote in the bushes surrounding Miller’s house. The officer was treated immediately for minor injuries.
