During Copperbelt MLA Haaken Arntzen's sentencing hearing this morning, his lawyer announced Arntzen's resignation from the Yukon Legislative Assembly.

Arntzen will step down from his seat effective tomorrow, once the sentencing process is complete, his Edmonton-based lawyer, Brian Beresh, told Yukon Supreme Court.

'(Arntzen's) resignation comes as a direct result of the convictions that have occurred,' Beresh said.

While Arntzen left the Yukon Party caucus shortly after the charges were laid in the spring of 2004, he continued to hold his seat in the legislature and to collect a paycheque of $53,776 annually.

There have been calls for Arntzen's resignation from both community members and the opposition parties.

A motion was put forth by the opposition asking for Arntzen to resign before the end of the spring sitting in the legislature.

Throughout the process, however, the Yukon Party and Premier Dennis Fentie have said they will make no decisions on Arntzen's position in the legislature until the court process was complete.

Liberal Leader Arthur Mitchell said in an interview today he is glad Arnzten finally did the right thing.

'I'm glad that Mr. Arntzen has finally, far too late, done the right, honourable thing and resigned.'

Also a Copperbelt resident, Mitchell said constituents in the riding have been without representation for far too long and he hopes a byelection will be called as soon as possible.

'It's unfortunate that Mr. Fentie has played politics with it for so long but there's no reason now not to call a by-election.'

Residents in the area have gone without representation since the spring of 2004, he said. They were frustrated by the government for not doing anything about the situation, he said.

'From the door knocking I've done and the conversations I've had on the street and living in the riding, people have been very, very angry at the fact that they were represented by someone who was convicted of such serious crimes,' he said.

The main issue at the hearing this morning was what punishment was appropriate for the three counts of indecent assaults Arntzen was convicted of earlier this year.

Crown prosecutor John Phelps said the sentence should consider both deterrence and denunciation because of the nature of the crime, which involved sexual acts with women under the age of 16.

The two women were between the ages of eight and nine and their teenage years when the assaults occurred between 1972 and 1980, the trial heard.

The assaults were also repetitive, occurring at various times throughout the eight-year span.

Quoting the victim impact statement of one of the women, a document that outlines what effect the assaults had on her life, Phelps said, 'I felt like I was a caged animal . . . I was and still am so ashamed. I stopped believing I was lovable.'

Phelps also stated that Arntzen has showed a 'lack of remorse' throughout the proceedings and continues to deny the offences for which he has been convicted.

While the Crown is not opposed to a conditional sentence, a sentence which is carried out in the community under the supervision of a bail supervisor, Phelps said there are a number of unknown risk factors.

Relying heavily on personal letters attesting to Arntzen's character, support he has from members of the community and the fact that he has no other criminal record, Beresh said 'there are no safety concerns' associated with giving Arntzen a conditional sentence.

At 58 years of age, Arntzen has been convicted of no other crimes.

'If he were prone to live a life of crime . . . clearly, we would have seen this,' Beresh said.

While he agreed that good character can sometimes be used to deflect a crime, that was not the case with Arnzten. He said his good character was a mitigating factor.

'We don't sentence in a vacuum,' the lawyer said.

Arntzen has also undergone public scrutiny and social stigma which are a stronger deterrent than jail time, he said.

'(The social stigma) will last long beyond any jail sentence.'

In terms of risk, Beresh said the onus was on the Crown to prove Arntzen could pose a risk to the community.

However, presiding Justice Leigh Gower asked if he is supposed to assume there is no risk in the absence of evidence of a clear risk.

Gower said the Crown was saying Arntzen could be an 'untreated, un-formally diagnosed sexual offender' because those issues have not been addressed.

While Beresh said treatment for alcohol or drug abuse or sexual offenders was not necessary, he said Arnzten would likely comply with whatever directions the court imposed on him during sentencing.

However, Arntzen has so far shown no willingness to attend counselling, Phelps told the court.

While Arnzten's sentence hearing concluded this morning to a full courtroom, the sentence itself is due to be delivered tomorrow afternoon.

Gower said he had planned to give Arntzen's sentence late this afternoon, but Beresh had a flight out of Whitehorse for around 3 p.m. and could not be present.

As a result, the sentence is set to be given tomorrow afternoon, with Beresh on speaker-phone.

Arntzen was elected as a Yukon Party MLA in the 2002 election. He left the caucus shortly after he was charged.