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09/26/06
DWI - Carley's Law By Lee Hanlon
Criminology Column, The Cascade News In August of 2004, Michael Evers, 28, blew a stop sign at the corner of 256th Street and 24th Ave in Aldergrove.
Evers' car struck an Oldsmobile Omega, killing the driver, Barbara Dyck, 37, mother of two, and injuring a 12-year-old passenger. The impact of Evers' car sent the Oldsmobile upside down into a ditch and his car landed on top of the victim's car.
Evers' blood-alcohol content at the time of the accident was 0.237, three
times the legal limits for driving. At trial on Tuesday, April 4, 2006, Evers admitted to having a struggle with alcoholism. Evers pled guilty and was sentenced to 2.5 years for impairment driving causing the death of Barbara Dyck and six months concurrent for causing bodily harm to Melissa Neef, then 12. On the other hand, Mike Dyck will never be able to hold his wife again, neither will her two children see their mother again. This was a very inappropriate sentence. According to section 255 (3) of the Criminal Code, Evers was liable to imprisonment for life for causing death and according to section 255 (2) imprisonment to a maximum of 10 years for causing bodily harm. On January 6, 2003 Paul Wettlaufer 38, while driving under the influence struck and killed 14 year old Carley Regan.
Wettlaufer was originally charged with one count of dangerous driving causing death, however, Crown downgraded the charge to three counts of
hit-and-run and one count of driving while under suspension. Wettlaufer was given a 14 month jail term and became eligible for parole after only serving 4 months. Wettlaufer was also given a 10 year driving suspension.
February 3, 2004 Wettlaufer was released from prison. On the three counts of hit-and-run (failure to stop at scene of accident) section 252 (1.3) of the Criminal Code makes Wettlaufer liable to imprisonment for life and on the one count of driving while suspended, section 259 (4) (a) of the Criminal Code makes Wettlaufer liable to imprisonment for a maximum of 5 years. Once again justice has been denied. Barry Regan will never be able to celebrate another birthday with his daughter. In each of these cases the victims and the surviving relatives of the victims have been forgotten.
Then Conservative MP Randy White submitted a bill to the House of Commons known as Carley's Law.
The Carley's Law bill called for stiffer driving penalties. For example, harsher
sentences for hit-and-run drivers like Wettlaufer. The bill says drivers convicted of leaving the scene after hitting and killing someone must serve at least seven years in jail, up to a life sentence.
If a death isn't involved the legislation says the minimum sentence should be four years. The Liberal government rejected the bill, preferring to give more rights to the accused. In my opinion, Carley's Law is the wrong focus. What the bill should focus on is judicial independence, which I addressed in my Runaway Judges column (July 25th edition of the Cascade). What we need to focus on is to make judges more accountable for their lack of the administration of justice during the sentencing phase. Politicians waste too much time on bills like Carley's Law rather than bills that could make the courts more accountable. There are already laws in place that could have put Wettlaufer in prison for at least 10 years. It is the judges we the people need to make accountable, not pretending to put more teeth into laws that already exist.