N.B. man who concocted friendly dog story gets three year jail sentence

Sigh. It was such a lovely fairy tale, too. Remember the guy who said meeting a friendly dog made him change his mind about going on a shooting spree?

TORONTO (CP) - A New Brunswick man who told police that a friendly dog scuttled his plan for a bloody shooting rampage was sentenced Wednesday to a three-year prison term after admitting it was all a ploy to get life-saving surgery while in jail.

Ontario Court Justice Brent Knazan described James Stanson as a "manipulative, duplicitous, entitled con-man" who headed to east Toronto last June "to hatch a plan that would lead to his detention (and) the medical treatment he needed."

[snip]

Knazan said the three-year sentence took into account Stanson's lack of criminal record and poor health, as well as the fact that he had allowed police to search his car and ultimately pleaded guilty to weapons charges.

But many of these mitigating factors, he added, were in fact part of Stanson's plan - he needed to co-operate with police in order to be caught.

Stanson, who was found with a veritable arsenal of firearms and ammunition in his car, originally told police he had been planning a mass murder in an east Toronto neighbourhood until a meeting with a friendly dog changed his mind.

He said he had driven to Toronto because he considered it a more suitable venue for his rampage; people in the Maritimes were too nice.

Court heard Stanson played with a dog for a while, then went looking for police.

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Use the title link to read the rest of the Canadian Press article by Romina Maurino.