Man who dragged BC gas jockey to his death released again
Posted April 30, 2012 10:33 am.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BRITISH COLUMBIA (NEWS1130) – The man who dragged gas station attendant Grant De Patie to his death is getting released from prison, again, tomorrow. Since he was first paroled in June of 2010, Darnell Pratt keeps going to and from jail.
The first two times Pratt was released, he walked away from his halfway house almost immediately, violating parole conditions.
Legal expert Michael Shapray doesn’t expect Pratt to get more jail time. “I don’t think it would be possible to get any additional time for parole violations that don’t include a new criminal offence for which [he] then goes before the court and is sentenced.”
Shapray adds there is no extra penalty for the parole violations. “The punishment for his failure to comply with parole is to go back and serve hard time in jail until he is re-paroled. He was entitled to a release. He didn’t take advantage of it and he spends a number of months in jail, each time he does this.”
Pratt’s full sentence ends July 22, so even if he gets sent back one more time, he will likely be out then.
Pratt was 16 when he dragged De Patie to death in 2005 after stealing a few dollars worth of gas.
Pratt was sentenced to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to manslaughter but that sentence was knocked down to less than six years.
He was released in the summer of 2010 but violated his parole conditions days later when he walked away from a Kamloops halfway house. Pratt was arrested and went back to prison again but was eventually freed on statutory release in November of last year.
