Anthony Donald Samuelson recently lost an appeal from a conviction stemming from a 2012 attack on a Penticton man.
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January 30, 2015 - 2:37 PM
PENTICTON - A man convicted of two years less a day for a vicious attack on a Penticton man will serve his full sentence after losing his appeal this week.
Anthony Leonard Donald Samuelson argued his sentence was unduly harsh and requested instead a three-year suspended sentence or a reduction of the present jail term.
Samuelson was sentenced for the Sept. 7, 2012 attack on Michael Ricciardi at a pub in Penticton. Ricciardi was with five friends when Samuelson began yelling at them and became aggressive and provocative. Ricciardi and Samuelson met face to face and exchanged unpleasantries, at which point Samuelson turned away, picked up a weapon—a rock in a sock—and charged Ricciardi, striking him in the head, swinging it like a sling.
Ricciardi sustained a serious head wound resulting in a permanent visible scar, as well as suffering emotional trauma. The court noted that Samuelson “purposely lured” Ricciardi to the location of the offence and went to the effort to fashion the weapon. The judge also noted a lack of provocation for the attack.
The appeals court noted Samuelson’s unstable childhood, his rebellious nature and his history of alcohol and drug abuse.
Samuelson’s preferred sentencing alternative - a suspended sentence - was primarily a rehabilitative tool, the judge noted in his decision, concluding the original sentences imposed “were not demonstrably unfit.”
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