Kennyredline
08-17-2011, 12:15 PM
.....so I'm sure a $2300 fine will teach her.
:facepalm:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Drunk+driver+caused+boyfriend+death+fined+second+offence/5263111/story.html
CALGARY — A woman who avoided jail two months ago in an Ottawa court for impaired driving causing the death of her boyfriend in 2004 has now escaped incarceration after getting caught driving while drunk in Calgary.
On Tuesday, Dominika Duris, 25, pleaded guilty to having a blood-alcohol level of at least 1.5 times the .08 legal blood alcohol limit after she was caught in a Checkstop at 14th St. and 64th Ave. N.W. on June 7, 2009.
Provincial court Judge Anne Brown accepted a sentencing recommendation by Crown prosecutor Brian Hadford and defence lawyer Lily Rabinovitch for $2,300 in fines.
Brown gave Duris, who currently lives near Brockville, Ont., and was not present in court on Tuesday, a one-year driving prohibition.
However, she made it concurrent to the five-year ban she received on June 15 in the Ontario court, when she was handed a conditional jail sentence of two years less a day to be served in the community – with 90 days of it under house arrest — for impaired driving causing the death of Cory Lockyer, 20.
Hadford said outside the Calgary court following the hearing that he could not treat Duris as a repeat offender, thus subjecting her to at least 30 days in jail.
“At the time of this driving offence she was not convicted of the prior offence,” Hadford explained, “so we can’t rely on it as a previous conviction.”
Wayne Lockyer, the victim’s father, told the Ottawa Citizen in June after sentencing that the penalty for killing his only son was “just like a slap in the face.”
“I’m flabbergasted,” added Donna, the victim’s mother, outside the Ottawa court, adding the family only learned about the Calgary charges just before the sentencing hearing.
She said until then she had been prepared to accept Duris’s conditional sentence and believed the woman, who gave a tearful statement at her sentencing hearing, was remorseful.
“With her victim impact statement, she led me to believe that she was remorseful about it,” the mother told the Citizen. “Hearing this new charge against her blows it all out the window.”
Neither parent could immediately be reached for comment on Monday.
Duris had originally been acquitted of the charge for a single-vehicle collision that killed Lockyer, after the judge threw out breath readings taken by police after concluding they violated her rights.
But the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned the ruling and ordered the new trial on a Crown appeal.
In the second trial, Ontario Court Justice Robert Fournier concluded Duris’s impairment prevented her from reacting appropriately when she found herself in the wrong lane on a rural road on Oct. 31, 2004.
She had been drinking with Lockyer at Montana’s restaurant, where they both worked.
Fournier placed Duris under probation for one year from the conclusion of the conditional sentence. She also must perform 200 hours of community service and abstain from alcohol and drugs.
The judge, as well, ordered the offender to speak at three different high schools about the dangers of drunk driving.
Rabinovitch said her client, who was 19 at the time of the fatal crash, has taken tremendous steps to overcome any alcohol difficulties by taking the Ontario Remedial Plan for impaired drivers and participating in Alcoholics
Anonymous meetings.
[email protected]
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Drunk+driver+caused+boyfriend+death+fined+second+offence/5263111/story.html#ixzz1VJMq2Mm3
:facepalm:
http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Drunk+driver+caused+boyfriend+death+fined+second+offence/5263111/story.html
CALGARY — A woman who avoided jail two months ago in an Ottawa court for impaired driving causing the death of her boyfriend in 2004 has now escaped incarceration after getting caught driving while drunk in Calgary.
On Tuesday, Dominika Duris, 25, pleaded guilty to having a blood-alcohol level of at least 1.5 times the .08 legal blood alcohol limit after she was caught in a Checkstop at 14th St. and 64th Ave. N.W. on June 7, 2009.
Provincial court Judge Anne Brown accepted a sentencing recommendation by Crown prosecutor Brian Hadford and defence lawyer Lily Rabinovitch for $2,300 in fines.
Brown gave Duris, who currently lives near Brockville, Ont., and was not present in court on Tuesday, a one-year driving prohibition.
However, she made it concurrent to the five-year ban she received on June 15 in the Ontario court, when she was handed a conditional jail sentence of two years less a day to be served in the community – with 90 days of it under house arrest — for impaired driving causing the death of Cory Lockyer, 20.
Hadford said outside the Calgary court following the hearing that he could not treat Duris as a repeat offender, thus subjecting her to at least 30 days in jail.
“At the time of this driving offence she was not convicted of the prior offence,” Hadford explained, “so we can’t rely on it as a previous conviction.”
Wayne Lockyer, the victim’s father, told the Ottawa Citizen in June after sentencing that the penalty for killing his only son was “just like a slap in the face.”
“I’m flabbergasted,” added Donna, the victim’s mother, outside the Ottawa court, adding the family only learned about the Calgary charges just before the sentencing hearing.
She said until then she had been prepared to accept Duris’s conditional sentence and believed the woman, who gave a tearful statement at her sentencing hearing, was remorseful.
“With her victim impact statement, she led me to believe that she was remorseful about it,” the mother told the Citizen. “Hearing this new charge against her blows it all out the window.”
Neither parent could immediately be reached for comment on Monday.
Duris had originally been acquitted of the charge for a single-vehicle collision that killed Lockyer, after the judge threw out breath readings taken by police after concluding they violated her rights.
But the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned the ruling and ordered the new trial on a Crown appeal.
In the second trial, Ontario Court Justice Robert Fournier concluded Duris’s impairment prevented her from reacting appropriately when she found herself in the wrong lane on a rural road on Oct. 31, 2004.
She had been drinking with Lockyer at Montana’s restaurant, where they both worked.
Fournier placed Duris under probation for one year from the conclusion of the conditional sentence. She also must perform 200 hours of community service and abstain from alcohol and drugs.
The judge, as well, ordered the offender to speak at three different high schools about the dangers of drunk driving.
Rabinovitch said her client, who was 19 at the time of the fatal crash, has taken tremendous steps to overcome any alcohol difficulties by taking the Ontario Remedial Plan for impaired drivers and participating in Alcoholics
Anonymous meetings.
[email protected]
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Drunk+driver+caused+boyfriend+death+fined+second+offence/5263111/story.html#ixzz1VJMq2Mm3