Mike on Crime

By Mike McIntyre
Winnipeg Free Press

A Winnipeg man has been found guilty of threatening to burn down the home of a provincial Crown attorney only hours after he was sentenced for threatening to kill her.

Patrick Noble, 26, was convicted this afternoon of criminal harassment and uttering threats.

Lawyers are now making their sentencing submissions. The Crown wants a two-year penalty, while Noble is seeking six months.

Noble made the disturbing remarks in July 2007 as he was being escorted from the downtown Law Courts back to Headingley jail. He had just been sentenced that day to two years in jail for making threats against the woman who had previously prosecuted him for armed robbery.

Two sheriff’s officers overheard the comments and reported them to a supervisor, who contacted police. One of the officers testified at his trial last month that Noble had also warned them on the way back to jail to “make sure you have a subscription to tomorrow’s newspaper.” Noble later said “Just kidding” after the arson remark, but officers weren’t laughing.

Noble’s troubles began in March 2007, when he was given five years in prison for armed robbery. He phoned the Crown attorney later in the day, threatened to kill her and told her she had messed with the wrong guy. A few days later Noble, who was in Headingley jail, threatened to kill the prosecutor again during a telephone conversation with his mother. All calls made by prisoners are taped, making it relatively easy for investigators to charge Noble.

It was around the same time the prosecutor was victimized in a violent home invasion that shocked the legal community. In a subsequent jailhouse interview with the Free Press, Noble suggested that he might have been involved with the home invasion and that he knew the men who were charged.

“I can’t really say. It would implicate me in the crime,” he told the Free Press. He added that the lawyer got what she deserved. His conversation with a Free Press reporter was apparently taped by justice officials and may be presented in court this week.

At his July 2007 sentencing hearing for the phone threats, defence lawyer Mike Cook said the timing of his client’s threat and the home invasion was merely a coincidence.

“Is it suspicious, absolutely,” said Cook. “(But) Mr. Noble is not tied in with that.”

At that time, a contrite Noble told the court he was angry when he made the initial threats and now realized that the prosecutor was just “doing her job”. He apologized to her and the court. Cook said his client was determined to turn his life around and had plans to become a carpenter.

It was just hours later that he made the new threats which landed him back in court.