Mark Lange, the Whitehorse man convicted of the brutal beating of a man outside the Salvation Army in 2014, could stay in prison for the rest of his life.
Lange, 40, was ruled a dangerous offender in Yukon territorial court on Friday.
The label means that unlike other convicted criminals, Lange has no set date for when he must be released from a federal penitentiary.
It will be up to Correctional Services of Canada and the National Parole Board to decide when – if ever – he gets out.
Lange pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm after beating a man in what Judge Donald Luther called a “merciless, vicious assault.”
“The case is not about how the system failed Mark Lange,” Luther said. “It’s about how Mark Lange failed himself.”
At a hearing earlier this year, the court watched the soundless surveillance video of Lange attacking the man, kicking him repeatedly until he was left lying in the fetal position on the ramp outside the Salvation Army.
The victim was kicked four times in the body and 16 times in the head and upper body. That includes being stomped on during the three-minute attack.
At times it appeared the victim was pleading with Lange to stop, the judge said.
There was “absolutely no physical initiation or aggression” on the part of the victim, Luther said.
Lange told a psychiatrist during a court-ordered assessment that he has no recollection of the attack.
“I undid all the work I did over years in 30 seconds,” he reportedly said.
Lange’s criminal record has “no significant gaps,” the court heard. He has 42 convictions, including three for weapons-relented offences.
But he is probably most well-known for killing Carcross hotelier Robert Olson in 2004.
Lange and Dean Boucher were originally convicted by a jury of second-degree murder for beating Olson to death and dumping his body in a snow bank.
The pair won an appeal and, in 2012, pleaded guilty to manslaughter. They were both released not long after.
In 2012, neither man was designated a long-term or dangerous offender.
At the time, forensic psychiatrist Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe said Lange was not a high risk for violence. Lange had been sober for seven years and was taking advantage of the programming in prison, he said.
Lohrasbe wrote a second report on Lange for this latest hearing. This time he painted a very different picture.
Lange will pose a high risk for violence in the foreseeable future, the doctor said. He will benefit from the programming available in prison and needs to remain completely abstinent from alcohol.
Contact Ashley Joannou at
ashleyj@yukon-news.com