The impacts of the flood year of 2011 are still being felt today, eight years later, as evidenced in Estevan Provincial Court.
Macoun-area farmer Terry B. Gustafson, 66, pleaded guilty Monday to several charges related to a crack-cocaine induced incident where he showed up on a woman’s doorstep, wanting into the house while he was high.
That happened on Feb. 24, 2019, which is significant, because on Feb. 25, Gustafson’s case against Input Capital Corp. was to appear before the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal, essentially deciding the fate of his substantial farm.
Gustafson pleaded guilty on Nov. 4 to operating a conveyance while impaired, resisting a police officer, mischief, failure to comply with a probation order and possession of cocaine.
Crown Prosecutor Mitch Crumley said that on Feb. 24, a 911 call came in from “a woman quite hysterical,” and had police responding to a farmyard near Macoun.
Crumley said Gustafson had showed up at the residence and refused to leave. “He had a funny look on his face,” the prosecutor said, noting he had slurred speech as well. He pulled out a silver pipe and proceeded to smoke crack in front of the woman while standing in the porch.
She pushed him, he pushed her, then she got scared and fled the house, getting into her vehicle. Gustafson tried to get in the passenger seat. She called a neighbour, then 911.
Gustafson then got into his white Lexus and started to slowly drive away. Police told him to stop, and an officer got into a police vehicle and activated the lights. Gustafson stopped and was removed from the Lexus.
He was handcuffed with his hands in front of him. That allowed him access to his pockets, and while in the back seat of the police vehicle, he retrieved a lighter and his pipe and started smoking crack.
“He kept asking the police officer to have a hoot with him,” Crumley said. The officer refused.
Gustafson failed numerous items on the subsequent intoxication test, and a urine test was positive for cocaine. He had been on a probation order not to consume drugs.
In a joint submission for all matters except the cocaine possession charge, the Crown asked for a four-month conditional sentence order with 24 hour curfew, followed by an eight-month probation order with standard conditions. He also asked for a one-year driving prohibition.
Gustafson would be allowed to leave the home for work purposes and to care for his elderly parents. Given a “lengthy criminal record,” Crumley asked for a fine for the drug charge, but defence attorney Matt Schmeling asked for a condition discharge with conditions mirroring those given above, to be served concurrently.
Schmeling said he had no issue with the facts as presented, but he wanted to provide some context. Gustafson and the woman knew each other. He wasn’t a stranger. He thought entering the porch was by consent. “He wasn’t overtly threatening her. It was more passive,” Schmeling said.
Video from the police vehicle showed he only drove about 40 feet. And while he resisted police, he wasn’t shoving them. The police had to pry the items from his hands. After arrest, he was compliant.
“For the state he was in, he was as compliant as he could be,” Schmeling said.
Gustafson had charges in the mid- to late-1990s for drunk driving and mischief. There was a 20-year gap, then he had three more drug-related charges over 2016-2017.
Difficulty with the farm led to hard times. The oil boom up to 2014 meant it was hard to find workers. “People he hired weren’t clean cut, and got him involved with drugs,” Schmeling said.
Gustafson was in the middle of a “large lawsuit” which would decide the fate of his over-century-old farm, started by his great grandfather. Individuals had come to his place the evening before the big court date, and offered drugs to Gustafson.
He barely had a recollection of the events, and it was completely out of character for him, according to Schmeling.
He provided some background, saying Gustafson was single, with two grown children who both had successful careers in New York. Thus, it was important that the drug charge be a conditional discharge instead of a fine, so he could eventually travel to the U.S.
Gustafson has a masters of divinity degree, and used to work extensively with the Pentecostal Church in Toronto before taking up the family farm.
“They came to his house, he had a variety of things on his mind. It was a moment of weakness,” Schmeling said of the people who gave him the drugs.
Gustafson told Judge Michelle Brass, “I deeply regret getting into this dilemma. I had a total mental health collapse,” he said. From farming 125 quarters at one time, he said in 2012 he couldn’t seed due to the flooding of the year before. Then in 2013, he had a bumper crop, and he couldn’t deliver it due to constraints on the rail system. Then he got into an “unconscionable” contract with a company that resulted in him spending $1.85 million trying to save the farm.
“I studied rehabilitation. I realized I need it. I will cope with the farm stress without substance abuse. Further isolation is not what I need. I need the right people,” Gustafson said.
“I ask for your mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgement,” he concluded.
Brass accepted the joint submission and imposed a four-month conditional sentence order followed by eight months probation. She also accepted the defence request for a conditional discharge, with the same conditions as the other charges, lasting 12 months. Gustafson was also prohibited from driving for 12 months.
“I wish you all the best, Mr. Gustafson,” Brass concluded.
