An Ontario Superior Court justice has sentenced Cameron Ortis — the former RCMP intelligence official found guilty late last year of leaking secret information to police targets — to 14 years in prison.
Accounting for his time served, the former civilian member will serve more than seven years behind bars.
The decision Wednesday marks a first in Canadian history.
Ortis, 51, was found guilty in November of all six charges against him, including violating Canada’s secrets act.
The Crown had sought a far steeper sentence: two consecutive sentences totalling 28 years in prison. It also argued that if the judge decided 28 years is too long, a sentence of 22 to 25 years, minus time served, would be “proportionate.”
The defence, meanwhile, had argued that the former civilian member of the RCMP endured hardships while in custody waiting for his trial to begin and shouldn’t serve another day behind bars.
“No inmate has had to suffer what Mr. Ortis suffered,” defence lawyer Jon Doody said last month.
Justice Robert Maranger said Wednesday the Crown’s request was excessive and the defence’s suggestion “inadequate.”
“The sentence I’m going to impose is by any objective measure a severe penalty in Canadian criminal law,” he said.
“In my view, it is a fit and just sentence that addresses both the gravity of the offences and Cameron Ortis’s moral responsibility for the commission.”
Ortis appeared stoic and looked directly at Maranger as he delivered his decision.
