The only time Richard Cody Graham has been able to stay out of trouble from the law in the past 20-plus years was when he became a father.
Crown attorney Kurt Froehlich told a Penticton court last week Graham has an “unbroken pattern of criminal conduct stretching back to the early 2000s” and now has more than 60 criminal convictions after he pleaded guilty to numerous offences over several months.
Graham, 41, dressed in jail-issued red overalls and speaking via videoconference from a holding cell, pleaded guilty to two counts of flight from police, failing to stop for police, dangerous operation of a vehicle, assaulting police, illegally removing a court-ordered monitoring device, among other charges.
In late May of 2017, Graham was arrested in Penticton on warrants in the Lower Mainland for bank robbery and use of an imitation handgun in the commission of a criminal offence.
After spending the past seven months in jail following an extended crime spree over several months dating back two years and getting clean and sober for the first time in a long time, Graham promised to stay clean, resume his relationship with his daughter and become a role model for her.
“When my daughter was born, that was the biggest thing in my life,” Graham told Justice Greg Koturbash during a sentencing hearing. “I changed my life and I tried to get myself together.
“This is the biggest regret of my life. I’ve done all kinds of crime (but) losing my daughter has really kind of opened my eyes to not continue this lifestyle.”
Court heard Graham now has more than 60 criminal convictions dating back over 20 years.
He was given a 19-month jail sentence by Koturbash on Nov. 20.
Because he’s served more than seven months in custody — he was given 1.5 days credit for every day spent in pre-trial detention — Graham will have to spend another 171 days behind bars before he’s released.
Froehlich told the court Graham was found by RCMP officers in Kelowna in his sports car the afternoon of Nov. 21, 2023. When officers tried to arrest him, Graham started up the vehicle and drove it towards a police cruiser.
He drove the vehicle through a ditch and also avoided a spike belt laid by police and took off at a high rate of speed and there was a short pursuit before officers decided to call off the chase due to public safety concerns, said Froehlich.
Graham was eventually arrested in January of this year and spent a few weeks in jail before being released on strict conditions, including having to wear an electronic monitoring device, said Froehlich.
He was living at a group home in Surrey, when it was reported “he had cut off an ankle bracelet” monitoring device and left the group home on March 18, he said.
While police attempted to track him, he wasn’t found until April 8 when RCMP officers in Oliver noticed a vehicle they believed belonged to Graham outside a grocery store in Oliver, said Froehlich.
Officers again tried to arrest Graham, who was in the vehicle with a woman, he said.
An RCMP officer attempted to open the door to the vehicle and place Graham under arrest, but Graham closed the door, forced the woman outside the vehicle and jumped into the driver’s seat, he said.
He put the car into drive and clipped the police cruiser, before taking off at a high rate of speed.
Five days later, police were given notice that Graham might be staying at a hotel in West Kelowna the evening of April 13.
When an officer approached the hotel room, he was told Graham had just left and was on foot.
The officer saw him running, pursued him and eventually caught up to him and placed him under arrest. Before tackling Graham with other officers, Graham “launched himself” into one officer, forcing him to the ground.
Police discovered Graham was in possession of a large quantity of controlled drugs and drug paraphenalia, said Froehlich.
Graham has remained in custody ever since.
Graham has an unenviable criminal record that now has more than 60 convictions, as well as a long record of Motor Vehicle Act convictions as well, including two previous convictions for dangerous driving and fleeing police, he said.
Defence counsel Matthew James said his client grew up in a very dysfunctional family and turned to drugs and alcohol at an early age and this has played a significant role in his criminal lifestyle.
Graham is an Indigenous man and his grandmother was a victim of the residential school system, he said.
His biological father abused him, his siblings and mother and he also suffered other abuse at the hands of trusted family members, he said.
He eventually went to live with his grandmother with his brother, but she overdosed when he was only 11 years of age and he had to witness that horrific incident, he said.
The only time his client hasn’t been in trouble with the law in the last 20 years was for an extended period of time from 2017, when his daughter was born, and until 2022, he said.
Not only did he establish a good relationship with his daughter, he was working full-time in Kelowna and doing well, he said.
However, he relapsed last year when the mother of his daughter cheated on him “and he spiraled out of control,” he said.
After being incarcerated for more than seven months, Graham is again clean and sober and has a new perspective on life, he said.
“Where he’s at now is where he wants to be,” he said. “Graham is before the court with, as I noted, substantial childhood trauma. And what’s important is to note that that is connected to the residential school systems and the intergenerational effects of it on his family, where that trauma stimulated his substance use, and through that, also his criminality.”
His goal is to get out of jail, get a job and resume his relationship with his daughter, he said.
“He wants to be a positive influence in his daughter’s life,” he said. “He’s shown in the past he can cease his criminal activity.”
Koturbash said he would agree to the 19-month collective sentence, which will see Graham spend just under six more months behind bars.
The two incidents of avoiding police by driving away at very high speeds could have resulted in tragedy, said Koturbash.
“I take a very, dim view of people that flee from the police, especially in vehicles, because so many dangerous and unfortunate consequences can happen when situations like that arise,” said Koturbash. “The sentences that are imposed have to be high enough to discourage you from ever considering doing that, or people from ever considering doing that going forward in the future.”
Besides the jail sentence, Graham was prohibited from driving anywhere in Canada for three years following his release.
He’s also prohibited from owning or possessing any firearms or prohibited weapons for the rest of his life.
After the sentencing hearing, Graham thanked Koturbash and returned to his cell.
