Convicted sex offender tries to withdraw guilty plea to avoid dangerous offender designation

A Coaldale, Alta., man who admitted to charges of child luring and sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl is now applying to withdraw his guilty pleas because he didn't understand the Crown was likely to try to designate him a dangerous offender, his lawyer says.

During a hearing in Court of Queen's Bench in Lethbridge on Monday, Trevor Pritchard's defence counselBill Wister said he has filed the application to withdraw the pleas and asked for an adjournment to Sept. 24.

On that date, Wister hopes to schedule a hearing to address the application, which he anticipates the Crown prosecutor will oppose.

• Convicted sex offender to undergo dangerous offender assessment

Wister told members of the media outside court that he doesn't believe Pritchard, 34, was fully aware of the implications when he entered the guilty pleas one of which is an expected dangerous offender application by the Crown.

During a previous court appearance, an agent for special prosecutor Donna Spaner told the court that they are working to seek the consent of the Attorney General of Alberta to proceed with a dangerous offender application and hearing.

A dangerous offender designation comes with an indeterminate term of imprisonment in a penitentiary, with parole ineligibility for seven years.

For an offender to be eligible for the sentence, they need to have at least two prior primary designated offence convictions.

Previous convictions

In April, Spaner told court that Pritchard has three prior convictions for sexually assaulting adolescent girls in 2004, 2009 and 2010.

Wister stressed that this move was not a criticism of previous counsel Tonii Roulston who represented Pritchard when he entered the pleas but said such a potential consequence requires further discussion with his client, as a dangerous offender designation would be much more onerous than a traditional sentence.

He further stated he is also representing Pritchard on another matter scheduled for trial in November, and that the defence in both cases will be similar.

Following the two guilty pleas from Pritchard on April 9, an agreed statement of facts was presented to the court.

It was admitted that Pritchard met the 15-year-old victim on Facebook and they started communication via text message. On Jan. 17, 2017, she agreed to meet him in person, believing he would take her to a job interview.

Pritchard instead took the girl to his home in Coaldale and told her, "the interview was not going to happen." He then forced her to participate in various sexual acts. He laterdrove her home and said he would kill her if she told anyone.

The girl told her motherwhat happened hours later, and after speaking to police, she was taken to the Chinook Regional Hospital for a sexual assault examination.

After those allegations came to light and Pritchard was first charged, police asked others to come forward. It was at that time that two girls under the age of 16 contacted police resulting in the trial set for November.

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With files fromLethbridgeNews Now