Calgary Defence Lawyer Susan Karpa Earns Client Extra Credit for Time Served

Joseph Raymond Staels will soon be able to put the botched home robbery he took part in behind him, due to the efforts of Calgary defence lawyer Susan Karpa in her arguments before Judge Catherine Skene in October of last year.

During the robbery, Staels and two others broke into a home on Rundleson Way N.E. that they believed contained large amounts of marijuana. Instead, Staels found himself attacked with a frying pan, and eventually placed under arrest and charged for the attempted robbery. His accomplices, meanwhile, managed to escape and evade Calgary law enforcement efforts.

Judge Skene insisted that a jail term of eight years was appropriate given relevant case law and the potential violence of the crime—one of the men, though not Staels, had wielded a handgun during the home invasion—and Crown prosecutor Gordon Haight asked for limited credit for the time Staels had already served since his arrest.

Karpa, serving as Staels' defence lawyer, argued that his years of imprisonment were already a fitting punishment for his crime. While Judge Skene did not fully agree, Karpa's arguments did lead to Staels being credited with 5.5 years for the time he had served. This shortens his remaining jail time to a maximum of 2.5 years, rather than the five additional years that might have been required.

Susan Karpa continues to dedicate herself to the defence of those accused with crimes in the Calgary area, and offers free consultations to accused persons and their family members.

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