In Calgary courts: Offender's excuse doesn't add up; Alberta man found in breach of house arrest over bad calculation

Bad mathematical skills are no excuse for breaching a conditional sentence order, a Calgary judge has ruled.

In a written decision posted online, Justice Allan Fradsham found Jason Buckley’s excuse for violating his house arrest order didn’t add up.

Buckley breached his six-month, 24/7 curfew last June 14, when he went bathing in a local swimming spot in Lundbreck Falls, in southern Alberta.

At the time, Buckley was subject to a six-month house arrest as part of an 18-month conditional sentence order to be served in the community, which was imposed on Jan. 8.

But Buckley told court he erroneously thought the six months was up because there are six months from January to June.

“He mistakenly thought that the house arrest condition expired on June 8, 2026,” Fradsham noted.

“He made that mistake thinking January being the first month of the year, and June being the sixth month of the year, then the six months in which the house arrest condition was effective expired at the end of June 8,” the Calgary Court of Justice judge wrote.

“He said he counted out the six months by counting ‘January’ as being the first month. He said that he was so settled in that view that on June 8 he held a party celebrating the end of the house arrest condition.”

While Buckley acknowledged his error he said the miscalculation was “his honest belief at the time,” Fradsham said.

The judge accepted Buckley’s explanation that he believed his house arrest had concluded, but that didn’t exonerate him from a finding he breached the conditional sentence.

Fradsham said since a finding of a breach of such an order doesn’t amount to a criminal conviction, Crown prosecutor Greg Whiteside wasn’t required to prove Buckley intended the consequences of his actions.

The judge said while he understood how the Alberta resident erred in concluding he had completed the house arrest portion of his sentence “I cannot conclude that his calculation method was sensible or based on good sense.

“The fact that his mistake was ‘honest’ did not, given how he made it, clothe it with the characteristic of being ‘reasonable.’ His honest but mistaken belief, in these circumstances, did not afford Mr. Buckley a reasonable excuse for breaching the conditional sentence order.”

Fradsham’s written decision did not include any potential sanction, which can range from no action to collapsing the community term and ordering it be served in custody, Buckley was handed for the breach.