A criminal history stretching back to 1999 was one of the factors Crown prosecution used to call for a year-long incarceration of a Penticton man.
Andrew Robert Hardenstine, 44, appeared via video in Penticton Provincial Court on April 23, for a sentencing hearing.
In July of 2023, Hardenstine was found guilty of flight from police, driving while disqualified, driving while prohibited and driving with a suspended license.
Crown was looking for a 12 to 18-month jail sentence followed by a probation period, pointing to Hardenstine’s lengthy criminal record, which contains 62 criminal convictions as an adult and further convictions as a youth.
“Mr. Hardenstine’s criminal record is, in my submission, it is an almost unbroken pattern of criminal conduct which is a quarter-century-long,” said Crown. “It is a varied record and includes driving offences, some kinds of violence, serious drug offences, a host of breach of court orders. It is a varied criminal record that is almost unending over 25 years.”
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On that day of the incident in April 2022, Hardenstine, riding a yellow dirtbike, had refused to stop for police and sped off.
Although he was not charged with dangerous driving, Judge Lynette Jung and Crown noted that RCMP had testified they had to give up their pursuit due to the speed at which Hardenstine was driving through Penticton and into Penticton Indian Band land.
Eventually, his bike got caught on a stump at which point he was arrested.
At the time, Hardenstine was under two different driving prohibitions under the Motor Vehicle Act and a criminal driving prohibition.
Defence for Hardenstine protested the Crown’s proposed sentence, calling it “excessive” and pointing to how Hardenstine’s last previous driving conviction had ended with a 50-day sentence. Separately he had also received a 90-day sentence in 2020 for driving dangerously.
It was also argued that there had been a gap between the April incident and his previous conviction of two years, however, Judge Jung pointed out that the gap coincided with a more than 1,000-day sentence he was serving.
The judge also noted that nowhere in the submissions from Hardenstine’s lawyer were signs of a willingness to change.
“Despite the fact that he’s been in jail for three weeks now, I haven’t heard of any attempts that he’s made since he came in custody to reach out, to get some programming, to get some help,” said Judge Jung. “I haven’t heard about any plans for the future. I haven’t heard about anything about what he’s planning to do so he could turn his life around.”
Judge Jung noted the importance of denunciation and deterrence in sentencing Hardenstine.
Hardenstine will spend another year in jail, even after taking into account time spent in custody.
Judge Jung did not order Hardenstine to serve a probation order after his sentence is completed given his history of failing to comply.
“I decline to impose a probation order. It hasn’t worked in the past. We’ve tried and tried and tried. I fail to see how any conditions, even a curfew, would assist so I’m declining to impose a probation order.”
An additional driving prohibition was also levelled against Hardenstine.
He will be back in court at a later date for recent charges that came during his arrest for multiple warrants, including a warrant to bring him in for this sentencing.