Whitehorse Daily Star

Crown seeks dangerous-offender status for Lange

In the surveillance video, Mark Lange and another man stand side by side outside the door to the Salvation Army.

By Rhiannon Russell on August 26, 2015

In the surveillance video, Mark Lange and another man stand side by side outside the door to the Salvation Army.

It’s about 1:20 a.m. on June 6, 2014.

Lange appears to light a cigarette. Then, suddenly, he lunges at the other man, pushing him to the ground. He starts kicking him repeatedly in the head.

Lange pauses for a moment, then moves in again, stomping on the man’s head and kicking him repeatedly in the face.

Lange steps back to the door, then runs at the man and appears to kick him in the buttocks.

He continues stomping on and kicking the man’s head for a couple of minutes, while the man lies motionless on the shelter’s ramp.

This week, during Lange’s sentencing hearing for the assault, this video was played by Crown prosecutor Noel Sinclair.

The victim, a then-regular client at the Salvation Army, didn’t die. But Lange gave him a concussion, swollen right ear, bleeding in his ear cavity and a nosebleed.

Lange, one of two men who killed Carcross hotel owner Bob Olson in 2004, was charged with aggravated assault in this case. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to the lesser offence of assault causing bodily harm.

The Crown wants Lange designated a dangerous offender, something Public Safety Canada defines as “the most dangerous violent and sexual predators in the country.”

A judge can impose this status at sentencing “if satisfied that the offender constitutes a threat to the life, safety or physical or mental well-being of the public.”

If found to be a dangerous offender, Lange, 39, could be sentenced to an indeterminate period of incarceration.

As the hearing began Tuesday morning, Sinclair said Lange has an essentially uninterrupted criminal record throughout his adult life, except for the years he spent in prison for killing Olson.

In that case, Lange and his co-accused, Dean Boucher, were convicted of second-degree murder, successfully appealed and later pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of manslaughter.

“The DVD really does speak for itself,” Sinclair said Tuesday. “It displays an extreme prolonged and apparently unprovoked violent outburst by Mr. Lange that resulted in bodily harm to (the victim).”

A worker at the Salvation Army came out of the shelter to find the man lying on the ramp, bleeding. Lange was standing nearby.

Sinclair said Lange told the worker that someone had beaten up the victim, but he didn’t know who.

The staff member went back inside, watched the security footage and saw that Lange was the assailant. Then he called police.

According to Sinclair, Lange saw the worker watching the video and told him sooner or later, he’d “get him” and “kill him on the street.”

When the RCMP arrested Lange, he allegedly told the Salvation Army worker he was “nothing but dead meat,” Sinclair said.

Lange has not pleaded guilty to uttering threats, but Sinclair said these allegations are an aggravating factor in the sentencing for assault.

In the police cruiser and later, at the jail’s arrest processing unit, Lange behaved violently. He was intoxicated at the time, Sinclair said.

The two key issues at this hearing, the prosecutor said, are whether Lange should be deemed a dangerous or long-term offender, and whether he should receive an indeterminate sentence or a determinate sentence plus a long-term supervision order.

Gordon Coffin is representing Lange.

This morning, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe appeared by video to testify about Lange’s risk assessment and treatability.

Lohrasbe interviewed the offender earlier this year at the Whitehorse jail.

He told the court Lange has anti-social personality disorder plus an ongoing substance abuse problem. He harbours a lot of anger, and when he drinks, he becomes violent, Lohrasbe said.

“His anger is unleashed and his self-control is compromised,” he said.

Lange is being assessed for ADHD, something he had as a child.

It’s also unknown if he has fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) – he was taken out of his mother’s custody at birth and prenatal drinking has not been confirmed.

But Lange must accept that “it’s not ADHD or FASD or alcohol that has done harm to other people,” said Lohrasbe. “It’s him.”

He said Lange is intelligent and high-functioning, and needs a halfway house outside of Whitehorse so he can get away from old friends and his negative lifestyle.

For the foreseeable future, he will present a risk to the public, Lohrasbe wrote in his report.

The Crown is reserving its position on whether an indeterminate sentence is appropriate until all the evidence is heard this week.

At his sentencing for Olson’s death in 2012, the Crown attempted to have Lange and his co-accused designated long-term or dangerous offenders. That was unsuccessful.

Lohrasbe deemed the status unnecessary, given that both Lange and Boucher were at a low to moderate risk of reoffending.

At the time, Lange had been doing relatively well. He’d been sober for seven years, court heard.

Today, Lohrasbe said that Lange’s intelligence is a double-edged sword.

It can help him recognize what he needs to do to change his life, but it’s also easy for him to mislead psychiatric assessors, probation officers and others around him.

In his interview with Lange, the psychiatrist said he appeared angry and frustrated at himself for allowing himself to go off the rails.

Lohrasbe’s testimony continues today, with Coffin cross-examining him.

It’s expected the lawyers will make their submissions on sentencing tomorrow before Judge Donald Luther.

Comments (11)

Up 18 Down 29

Josey Wales on Aug 31, 2015 at 9:10 am

Yukon 56...I get your point, but am diametric to it.
I feel so diametric actually that I say this....
We...CANADA, need to have a country wide trend of very public NOT hidden away healing...center exposure to the reality of carnage via violent criminals...convicted post due process.

In short we need gallows coast to coast to coast, all inclusive, where violent criminals (mars/venus) ethnicity COMPLETELY IRRELEVANT can swing with the winds of change so SOOOOOO needed post "hug a thug" failed policies.

Who get "represented" in the fictitious gallows line?
Well folks I guess that would be up to the individual to decide...and how their actions will keep them outta that needed line.

Up 13 Down 27

Josey Wales on Aug 30, 2015 at 2:58 pm

boing...boing...boing, goes the Gladue Kangaroo.
...coming soon to a crime scene near you.

Seems getting outta jail is easier than paying down a credit card?
Dig this? Vote for the spawn of the social engineer whom brought us "Hug a Thug"...young offenders act...and yes bred the Gladue Kangaroo...quite literary...to ensure the dysfunction NEVER EVER ENDS....
but of course, Justine..the fortunate son.

Up 22 Down 5

Yukon 56 on Aug 29, 2015 at 10:04 pm

First nations need to have a remote facility with healing and counseling in their Traditional Territory and assume accountability for their own.

Up 19 Down 1

Yukon 56 on Aug 29, 2015 at 4:04 pm

At the time, Lange had been doing relatively well. He’d been sober for seven years, court heard.WTF??? Must have been doing well to be at Sally Ann, another non productive member of society.

Up 31 Down 3

Groucho d'North on Aug 29, 2015 at 9:38 am

So why was this mutt out of jail and walking the streets in the first place? The legal system needs to take some responsibility for their poor decisions - not the politicians, but the courts. I propose a fine is imposed for every one of these cases where a previous offender not given an appropriate sentence to protect the community, is set free and reoffends. Fine the defence lawyers and the judge who determined the penalty and make it a fine large enough that it will sting a lot and perhaps influence their future decisions. Isn't that what these clowns get paid to do? Or as an alternative to fines, have publically elected judges.

Up 31 Down 3

john henry on Aug 27, 2015 at 2:58 pm

He and his partner had better be careful around certain people.

Up 67 Down 3

Dr Professional on Aug 27, 2015 at 10:16 am

In my opinion this person needs to be incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital in order to be stabilized. After that, if released, he needs to be released to live in a very secure facility where he will be monitored 24/7. Based on his history and his intelligence I think he is is very dangerous. He will be a cost to Society in one way or another, whether it is a financial cost or as a threat to the lives others. I'd prefer that the System pays financially in monitoring him for the rest of his life as opposed to a member or members of the public possibly paying with their life. It appears he is a criminal, a violent person of opportunity. He preys on the vulnerable.

Up 82 Down 9

June Jackson on Aug 26, 2015 at 6:59 pm

Another stellar example of justice in Canada. I would like to say just the Yukon, that other places in the country have legislation that is enforced. But, they don't. The prevailing bleeding heart judiciary that is currently sitting on the benches of our law courts are weak everywhere in the country. Some of the forums in BC are downright vicious about their sexual predators and murderer's free on the streets.

This man should never have been let out of jail to begin with. His crime was murder, there should be a harsher sentence when the criminal has taken a life than if he shoplifted a loaf of bread.

Up 102 Down 6

Dr. Dave on Aug 26, 2015 at 4:46 pm

Racial boundaries don't discriminate when it comes to psychopathy. FASD and ADHD are trumped by psychopathy. In cases where a significant number of psychopathic markers are present, the Gladue decision, FASD and ADHD, should all take a back seat when it comes to sentencing and iltimately protecting the society at large.

Up 128 Down 6

Yukon 56 on Aug 26, 2015 at 4:42 pm

At his sentencing for Olson’s death in 2012, the Crown attempted to have Lange and his co-accused designated long-term or dangerous offenders. That was unsuccessful. Here we go again, set them free to hurt more people.

Up 116 Down 5

jeff on Aug 26, 2015 at 4:28 pm

Guys a nutcase. Lock him up

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