BATTLEFORD - Joseph Sproull who was sentenced to 15 years in prison after being convicted of child pornography charges is appealing his conviction and sentence.
On Feb. 10 he was sentenced at the Court of King's Bench in Battleford after being found guilty on all eight charges - possessing and distributing child pornography, making child pornography x 2, as well as sexual assault x 2 and sexual interference x 2.
The two charges of sexual interference were stayed by the Crown for sentencing because a person can't be convicted of both sexual assault and sexual interference at the same time, since the two offences have similar elements, known as the Kienapple Principle in law.
Justice Grant Currie sentenced Joseph Sproull to 15 years in prison. Less credit for time served, Sproull had 14 years and 236 days left to serve.
The case dates back to 2021, when charges were laid against Joseph Sproull who resided in a house in Marshall, where his spouse operated a home-based day care.
The judge noted in his sentencing decision "in cases, as here, where the offender was in a position of trust or control over the child victim, the harm and the seriousness of the offences are even greater."
Sproull's defence lawyers, Brian Pfefferle and Zachary Carter, filed a request for an appeal with the Court of Appeal for Saskatchewan on the conviction and sentence on March 12, 2025, on nine grounds including the following:
They claim that the trial judge "erred in law and fact by failing to properly consider the totality of the evidence presented at trial."
They state that the "sentence imposed is demonstrably unfit and excessive in all the circumstances of the offence and the offender."
They also state that the trial judge "erred in the parity analysis by imposing a sentence that is not in keeping with sentences imposed in similar cases with similar circumstances."
If a new trial is ordered, Sproull has indicated he wishes to be tried by a judge alone.
