A Toronto crack cocaine dealer caught back in business three times over the course of ten months managed to convince a judge that he deserves some leniency because putting him behind bars would mean hardship for his nine children, but not because he’s addicted to the drugs he was caught peddling.
Lloyd Williams pleaded guilty in Ontario’s Court of Justice to three counts of possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking in what Justice André Chamberlain described as the “deeply troubled” neighbourhood surrounding the intersection at Dundas and Sherbourne streets for arrests on March 3, 2024, Oct. 25, 2024, and Jan 4, 2025.
Williams, who was released after each arrest — twice on bail and a third time on the promise he wear a GPS tracking device — also pleaded guilty to one count of possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000, and two counts for under that amount, and failing to comply with a release order on Feb. 15, 2025.
The Crown recommended a six-and-a-half-year prison sentence. Williams’ lawyer argued for two years less a day in jail.
“Lloyd Williams has nine children in total: two stepchildren and seven biological,” Chamberlain wrote in a recent decision.
“The youngest is just 10 months old.” One is 22 months old, and another is three, said the judge. Williams also has “nine-year-old twins, two 10-year-olds, and a 16-year-old. One of his nine-year-olds is on the autism spectrum,” Chamberlain said.
“He states that he provides support as a father to his children and that any lengthy absence would have a significant impact on their health and well-being.”
Williams identifies as both Black and Mi’kmaq. Though he couldn’t prove the latter, the judge was “satisfied” Williams “has established a connection to Indigenous ancestry.”
“It is not unusual for Indigenous people who have struggled under the yoke of colonialism in this country and its intergenerational impact to have lost connections to their roots and community,” Chamberlain said.
“Further, markers of the effects of intergenerational trauma, including poverty, familial addiction, struggles with education and mental health, and over-representation within the criminal justice and child welfare system, are often present when Indigenous identity is confirmed.”
Williams “deserves consideration for the reduced moral blameworthiness associated with these challenges,” said the judge.
Williams, 44, was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of three and continues to have seizures, said the decision.
His lawyer argued “that, in addition to the significant mitigating health and personal circumstances, there are two legal considerations that should mitigate his sentence, bringing it down to an upper reformatory range, namely, the impact and harm a lengthy prison sentence will have on his family, and secondly, that Mr. Williams is addicted to the very drugs he sells, and as an addict-trafficker, he is entitled to significant mitigation,” said the decision, dated Jan. 23.
Chamberlain sentenced Williams, who already had a lengthy criminal history, to four-and-a-half years in prison.
“Mitigation for addict traffickers applies to cases where addicts agree to purchase a small amount of a street drug from their dealer on behalf of someone unknown to the dealer,” said the judge.
“They usually ask for the money up front, get a good deal from their dealer, and then chip off a portion of the drugs they have purchased for their own personal use, as a means of feeding their addiction,” Chamberlain said.
That’s not the case with Williams, said the judge.
“I do not deny that he is addicted to cocaine and likely other substances as well. However, the amounts of drugs he had in his possession on each of the three occasions he was arrested were substantial. In March 2024, it was just over one ounce; in October 2024, over four ounces; and in January 2024, close to two ounces. These amounts make him a mid-level trafficker. The proceeds seized from him over those three events, totalling over $7,800, strongly suggest that this endeavour is for profit. Lloyd Williams is not trafficking small amounts of cocaine simply to feed his addiction.”
The judge did not consider Williams’ addiction a mitigating factor.
“With respect to the position that I should consider the impact of further incarceration on his family, I agree I should consider the facts before me in consideration of any sentence,” Chamberlain said.
The courts have found that “family separation consequences may justify a sentence adjustment — even a significant one — or a departure from the range,” said the judge’s decision.
“This is true even for grave offences that require deterrence and denunciation.”
But “if the argument, even in part, surrounds the provision of financial support, the position of a reduction in sentence because of the consequences imposed on the family by the incarceration cannot be mitigated if even part of that financial support involves benefitting from the proceeds of crime,” Chamberlain said.
”However, I note that with nine children, some still infants and toddlers, and one needing additional support because he is on the spectrum for autism, there may be consideration for some reduction in sentence. However, I note that no evidence suggests the type of support he provides, beyond financial support, which I have already ruled cannot be factored in, given how Lloyd Williams was gaining his money.”
The judge accepted that some of Williams’ “children are infants or toddlers, and that any assistance must benefit the mother who cares for them. However, I note that Lloyd Williams has already jeopardized his ability to be with his children and provide support by his repeated re-offending while on bail and strict house arrest conditions, and finally by his house arrest with a surety.”
The judge also noted that in 2021 and 2024, Williams “was convicted of serious domestic assault charges, including assault by choking. His troubled past relationship, which led to domestic assaults, suggests a diminished value in the support he provides to his children and family.”
The judge said he gave less consideration to Williams’ “claim that his children and their mother will suffer familial harm from his incarceration, given his past and these criminal acts.”
But Chamberlain said Williams “is entitled to mitigation, to a greater or lesser extent, for these and the other mitigating circumstances. However, the seriousness of these offences and the blatant disregard for release orders, as evidenced by repeatedly engaging in the same drug-trafficking behaviour as a mid-level trafficker and by taking advantage of vulnerable populations, cannot be mitigated to the point of making the sentence unfit. We cannot get away from the fact that these were serious trafficking offences. They demand a proportionate response.”
The judge recognized “that his further incarceration will have a negative impact” on Williams’ family.
Williams had already been in pre-trial custody for more than 300 days before his sentencing.
“I have already dismissed the financial impact on his family because the court cannot condone the notion that the loss of proceeds from a drug trafficking enterprise can be considered mitigating,” Chamberlain said.
“I do, however, understand that the loss of any personal support he may have provided to the women with whom he is parenting will be difficult for those families. But I cannot discount what, at a minimum, is a fit sentence in these circumstances, to a time-served sentence, because of this unfortunate impact on the family.”
Chamberlain recognized Williams’ “decision to forgo his right to a trial on these matters as significantly mitigating, and he receives credit for that,” said the decision.
“However, I cannot discount that, although he has his own vulnerabilities, his mid-level drug dealing preyed on an already very vulnerable population. He was moving weighty amounts of drugs and making substantial profits. The sentence I impose must reflect that reality and the harm he is causing in that community.”
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