A local man who pleaded guilty to robbery and disguise with intent last week for an April robbery at Bernie's Race Trac gas station will be sentenced later this afternoon.

After listening to arguments this morning from defence lawyer Gord Coffin and Crown prosecutor Mike Cozens, territorial court Judge John Faulkner reserved his decision for 2 p.m. today.

The court heard this morning that on April 10, Christopher Cornell, 25, went into the gas station dressed in black clothes with his face covered with a bandana. He was carrying a two-inch blade knife and bear spray, Cozens told the court in presenting the facts of the case.

Cornell demanded the clerk, who was behind the counter, give him the money from the till.

The clerk then swung a pool cue at Cornell, with the bear spray going off.

Able to get to a phone in the back, the clerk phoned Whitehorse RCMP.

While Cornell left the scene, police later found him lying beneath a picnic table in the McIntyre subdivision.

The robbery came fewer than two weeks after Cornell had been released from prison. He had just finished a sentence for unlawfully being in a dwelling, which had happened when he was on statutory parole for a 2005 break and enter sentence.

Pointing to Cornell's record and what Cozens suggested was no indication to do anything to change his lifestyle, the Crown prosecutor told the court a sentence should be significant, ranging from 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 years for the robbery, to be followed by a term of six months to one year for wearing a disguise while committing a crime.

The only mitigating factor in the case, Cozens argued, is the early guilty plea entered by Cornell.

This incident marked the second armed robbery in Whitehorse in 2007, the first one having occurred at the same store. There were three armed robberies in the territory in 2005 and again in 2006.

'Three are still too many,' Cozens said when he noted the judge should be looking at deterrence in deciding the sentence.

Coffin proposed a substantially lower sentence of one year or up to 18 months, if Faulkner is looking for a tougher sentence.

He pointed to the early guilty plea as well, but also argued the only violence used in the robbery was that of the clerk hitting him with a pool cue.

'That was the extent of the violence,' he said, adding it appears the bear spray had been set off accidentally.

It's unknown that had the clerk simply said no to the demand, whether Cornell would have walked away, as was the situation in one of the previous cases brought forward, Coffin argued.

Cozens, meanwhile, said Cornell had implied to the clerk there would be violence if he wasn't given the money.

The weapons did not include a gun, which may be viewed as more serious, and nothing was taken, Coffin said.

Cornell was also under the influence of drugs, Coffin said. His client has little memory of getting to the store and no memory of where he got the knife and bear spray.

Prior to the robbery, he had been taking drugs when he was visiting people in the area, but did not knowingly take any hallucinogens.

There is some evidence by police that he may have been hallucinating when he was arrested under the picnic table.

He gave little response to them and was staring off into space. Coffin acknowledged that could have been also partly caused by the blow to his head from the pool cue.

Police first took him to Whitehorse General Hospital after they picked him up. There, he received stitches before being taken to RCMP cells.

Coffin also told the court his client was born in Whitehorse, living here most of his life. Prior to his arrest, he was living with his mother. He also has two younger brothers and keeps in contact with his family.

Cornell also left school in Grade 10, but was doing upgrading toward his Grade 12 during his last stay in jail.

His last job was a few years ago as a dishwasher/prep cook and he also completed a firefighting course in 2004.

While Cornell hasn't had difficulty around alcohol use, he admits he has a drug problem, with cocaine being his drug of choice, which he started using at the age of 17.

He has never been able to take treatment because often he hasn't been out of jail long enough to seek it. Often after he gets released, he's found by his previous acquaintances, begins doing drugs again and finds himself in trouble, Coffin explained.

Cornell is hoping to arrange treatment when his sentence is finished and understands what the future holds if he doesn't, Coffin told the court.