A 24-year-old Chilliwack man who has spent the last year behind bars was sentenced in Chilliwack provincial court Thursday (March 4) to time served for the robbery of a man in the downtown area in 2019.
But 24-year-old Owen Dale Charpentier will not likely be getting out of jail any time soon, and in fact he is facing life in prison for an unrelated homicide.
Charpentier’s lawyer Mark Swartz and Crown counsel Catherine Bright issued a joint submission of 18 months jail followed by two years probation for the robbery incident that occurred just six days before the homicide of Keith Baldwin on Oct. 22, 2019 just a few blocks away.
Charpentier is charged with the second-degree murder of Baldwin and is next due in court on that charge in June.
READ MORE: Chilliwack prolific offender charged with murder of Keith Baldwin
READ MORE: Pre-trial dates set for Chilliwack man charged with Keith Baldwin’s murder
It was on Oct. 16, 2019, when Charpentier approached Kyle Wall who was on a scooter. Charpentier was with two people, according to the facts of the case read into the record, Alexis Kasey Nicole Neill, and a man who the court heard only was named Dave.
Charpentier pulled out a can of bear spray on Wall and demanded he get off the scooter. Dave had a machete, and the trio brought Wall to a nearby abandoned house where he was held against his will.
“He was confined in the house and Charpentier threatened him with smashing his teeth and stabbing him,” Judge Robert Browning said in reading the agreed statement of facts.
Charpentier demanded Wall’s watch, a necklace, cash, an iPod and the scooter.
One day later, Charpentier was arrested and he was later charged with robbery, unlawful confinement, and kidnapping. Neill was also charged with robbery and kidnapping.
Charpentier pleaded guilty to the charge of robbery on Dec. 1, 2020. The joint submission agreed to by Judge Browning was 18 months jail followed by two years probation, including conditions that he stay away from the victim, attend counselling, and be banned from possessing firearms or knives.
As he has spend 364 days in custody, he was granted the standard 1.5-to-one credit for time served.
After the sentencing, Crown dropped the charges of unlawful confinement and kidnapping, and the two charges against Neill were also dropped.
During the sentencing, there was no mention of the murder charge against Charpentier from the incident on Oct. 22, 2019. Crown counsel Catherine Bright only told the court that Charpentier faces another “serious matter.”
Charpentier, his lawyer Mark Swartz, and Judge Browning appeared via video link into courtroom 204 in Chilliwack. Charpentier wore standard issue orange sweats from Surrey Pretrial and he looked clean shaven with a short haircut.
Asked if he had anything to say about the case, the prolific offender said he knew what he did was wrong.
“And I know that and I just want to move forward and get myself better, you know.”
Swartz read a little bit of Charpentier’s personal history into the record, a standard submission in criminal sentencing hearings. Charpentier was living in Alberta in the oil industry, lost that job and came back to Chilliwack. He had been working at a local company but began doing drugs, including cannabis, cocaine, meth, and his criminal life and homelessness began in 2017.
The three individuals in this case clearly all know one another. The victim, Wall, who is himself a repeat offender, was charged along with Neill for an alleged online dating robbery in 2018.
READ MORE: Online date robbery in Chilliwack leads to two arrests
Wall was found guilty of the lesser included charge of assault with a weapon and sentenced to one year probation.
Charpentier’s preliminary inquiry in advance of his murder trial is scheduled to begin June 7 and continue into August.
Keith Baldwin was shot in the head in the early hours of Oct. 22, 2019 in area of Yale Road and Fletcher Street in downtown Chilliwack.
Soon after the killing, Charpentier’s name was circulated as rumoured to be the person who killed Baldwin. He was arrested in April 2020.
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