Production of a Schedule I or II substance
R. v. Lukacs
Sentence and the Crown's position
What the law allows
Jason Martin Lukacs was convicted after trial of producing fentanyl and methamphetamine in a mobile synthesis lab found in March 2017 in the basement of the house he rented near Vernon. The Crown sought 15 years' imprisonment and the defence four to five years. Justice Donegan imposed 10 years on the fentanyl count and a concurrent eight years on the methamphetamine count, less 278 days' credit for pre-sentence custody, finding his moral blameworthiness very high because he knowingly provided the location for the lab for financial gain.
In the judge's words
1The grave nature of these offences, the need to emphasize denunciation and deterrence, and Mr. Lukacs' very high moral culpability call for a significant sentence. He cannot, of course, be held responsible for the opioid, and in particular the fentanyl, epidemic but he does bear responsibility for contributing to it.
The record
- Convicted of
- Production of a Schedule I or II substance (CDSA 7(1), 2 counts)
- Prior convictions
- 0 prior convictions1
- At the time of the offence
- Not stated1
- Defence asked for
- 4 years in custody1
- Mandatory minimum
- Applied1
- Appeal
- Not yet checked
- Counsel
- Crown: J.M. Le Dressay
Defence: T.J. Russell
Sources
- R. v. Lukacs, 2021 BCSC 1769 Court decision, CanLII, August 10, 2021
[45] The Crown seeks a sentence of 15 years' incarceration for Mr. Lukacs' production of fentanyl, and an eight‑year concurrent sentence for his production of methamphetamines.
[46] … a fit and proportionate sentence for these offences and this first‑time offender is a four‑ to five‑year period of incarceration.
[49] Both fentanyl and methamphetamines are Schedule I substances under the CDSA. Under s. 7(2) of the CDSA, the maximum punishment for producing those substances is life imprisonment and the minimum punishment is either two or three years. In this case, the Crown does not seek to establish the factors that would permit reliance on the three‑year mandatory minimum punishment.
[1] On March 31, 2017, police discovered a mobile fentanyl and methamphetamine synthesis lab in the basement of a home rented by, and lived in, by Jason Lukacs.
[27] At the time Mr. Lukacs committed the offences for which he is now to be sentenced, he had no criminal record.
[138] The grave nature of these offences, the need to emphasize denunciation and deterrence, and Mr. Lukacs' very high moral culpability call for a significant sentence. He cannot, of course, be held responsible for the opioid, and in particular the fentanyl, epidemic but he does bear responsibility for contributing to it.
[141] I find that a total sentence of 10 years' imprisonment is commensurate with the gravity of these offences and your degree of responsibility. … [143] By agreement, having found that the appropriate sentence in the absence of pre-sentence custody on Count 1 is eight years' imprisonment, and Count 2 is 10 years' imprisonment I give you credit, Mr. Lukacs, for pre-sentence custody at the usual rate, for 278 days.
- R. v. Lukacs, 2021 BCSC 1769 Court decision, Courts of British Columbia