A convicted drug dealer has lost an appeal of his sentence after a Surrey provincial court judge sentenced him to two years in prison and 18 months probation following his guilty plea and conviction for two counts of trafficking and two counts of drug possession, including fentanyl.

The Court of Appeal for British Columbia upheld Terrel Desmond鈥檚 sentence Nov. 24 in Vancouver.

Desmond claimed the trial judge erred in four ways, Justice Susan Griffin noted in her .

The four errors alleged involved the Surrey judge giving insufficient weight to a report that assessed the impact of race and culture 鈥渋n light of Mr. Desmond鈥檚 heritage as a Black Nova Scotian,鈥� that the judge placed too much emphasis on Desmond鈥檚 criminal record which predated these crimes by a decade or more, that the judge concluded that Desmond took part in 鈥減rice negotiation and deal-making鈥� in the context of his crimes, and that he erred 鈥渋n questioning鈥� if Desmond accepted responsibility for the offences.

But Griffin found the sentence was within range of sentences imposed on other offenders for similar crimes, with a first-time sentencing for street-level trafficking in fentanyl typically ranging between 18 and 36 months in jail.

鈥淭rafficking in fentanyl is an especially serious offence because of the lethal nature of the drug,鈥� Griffin noted. 鈥淭housands of people have died in B.C. due to drug overdoses. Often people who use drugs are marginalized to begin with, and so continuation of the illegal drug trade harms particularly vulnerable groups.鈥�

She also decided it 鈥渃annot be said that the judge erred by overlooking Mr. Desmond鈥檚 acceptance of responsibility. The judge expressly took Mr. Desmond鈥檚 guilty plea and remorse into account as mitigating factors in sentencing.

Moreover, Griffin also found the Surrey judge鈥檚 inference that Desmond had a role in negotiating and pricing 鈥渄id not overwhelm his views of Mr. Desmond鈥檚 relative place in the chain of drug distribution and therefore did not affect his view of Mr. Desmond鈥檚 moral blameworthiness or the sentence.鈥�

Griffin noted that while the Surrey judge found Desmond鈥檚 criminal record 鈥渉ighly relevant鈥� he nevertheless also 鈥渆xpressly recognized that there was almost a ten-year gap in offending, and considered this gap to be a relevant mitigating factor.

鈥淚t cannot be said that the fact Mr. Desmond had a prior record for trafficking and violent offences is entirely irrelevant. The relevance is apparent from the judge鈥檚 review of other sentencing decisions. In many of them where conditional sentences were imposed, the offence in question was the offender鈥檚 first drug trafficking offence and the offence was driven by the offender鈥檚 own drug addiction.鈥�

Concerning the Impact of Race and Culture Assessment, Griffin noted, 鈥淚n the sentencing judge鈥檚 analysis, the seriousness of the offence would have justified a greater sentence than he imposed, but he reduced the sentence by taking into account the mitigating factors affecting Mr. Desmond, including his heritage as a Black male of Nova Scotian descent.鈥�

Justices Harvey Groberman and Ronald Skolrood concurred with Griffin鈥檚 decision.