A man who went into Vernon's Status Nightclub carrying a loaded handgun in his man purse, or 'murse,' has been sentenced to 30 months in jail.
Jesse James Monteith, 23, was handed the jail sentence by Justice David Patterson in B.C. provincial court in a decision that was published Thursday, Dec. 19.
Monteith pleaded guilty in June to possessing the handgun illegally when he went into the nightclub on the evening of April 9, 2023. The Vernon RCMP had received a report that someone at Status was in possession of a handgun that night, and the man was later identified as Monteith.
According to court documents, Monteith was in the outdoor smoking area when he opened a Louis Vuitton satchel (the murse), showed someone the handgun and told them it was real.
Several police officers attended the nightclub and noted it was a busy night. The club manager brought them to the smoking area, which was still Monteith's whereabouts.
After trying to bolt towards the exits, Monteith was arrested. Inside his murse, police found a 9mm calibre Glock 17 pistol, $2,055 in cash and Monteith's Canadian passport. The pistol was loaded with a round in the chamber and 17 rounds in its overcapacity magazine.
A police investigation determined that the gun was legal in Canada but Monteith was not the legal owner, though the registered owner had not reported the gun stolen. It was also found that Monteith didn't have a valid licence for the weapon, and the magazine was a prohibited aftermarket device that isn't available for sale in Canada.
"Mr. Monteith had no lawful means to acquire the gun, ammunition, or overcapacity magazine. Accordingly, he was unlawfully in possession of the Glock 17, ammunition and overcapacity magazine," the court decision states.
The pistol was connected to a 2020 "straw purchaser" file out of Kelowna — straw purchaser being a person who lawfully purchases a gun and then illegally gives or sells it to someone else.
As for why Monteith brought the gun into the nightclub, he said only that he was "trying to appear cool and tough." This didn't explain why the gun was loaded, Justice Patterson wrote.
The court documents show Monteith had a difficult childhood and came from a background of poverty. He was also a first-time offender.
Nonetheless, he was sentenced to 30 months in jail, slapped with a 10-year weapons prohibition and was ordered to submit a DNA sample.
Monteith's defence lawyer had pushed for house arrest, but Patterson disagreed with that suggestion.
"The law is clear: even where an illegal handgun has been purchased and is possessed for defensive purposes – which has not been alleged by Mr. Monteith – its possession or use poses a risk of harm or danger," Patterson wrote.
Patterson said the sentencing range for a "true crime" possession of a handgun with ammunition is 30 to 48 months in jail, even for a first-time offender.
