Is six years in jail enough for impaired driving causing death?

Is six years a long enough sentence for someone convicted of impaired driving causing death? CTV London's Brent Lale investigates.

Before Justice Glen Donald sentenced Nicolas Lemke to five-and-a-half years in prison for impaired driving causing the death of 11-year-old Aiden Curtis, he told the court “I don’t expect anyone in this room will be satisfied with the number of days in jail.”

He was correct.

After the sentencing, which included six moths for impaired driving causing bodily harm and a 10-year driving ban upon release, Aiden’s mother Sarah Payne wanted a harsher punishment.

“Realistically he could have gotten life [in prison], and I think they should start by making him (Lemke) an example,” she said. “If they gave out life sentences, people might stop drinking and driving.”

On the other side, defence lawyer Keli Mersereau thought the sentence was too long.

“It’s not the sentence I wanted for my client,” said Mersereau. “I thought the right sentence was somewhere in the four-to-five-year range. The totality of six years is not what I expected.”

So, is a six-year sentence including six months for impaired causing bodily harm enough?

“I think six years could be enough, and it obviously was enough for Justice Donald,” said Nick Cake, a lawyer who has both defended and prosecuted impaired driving death cases but was not involved in this case. “We’ve seen an increase in the number of years that people are sentenced to for impaired causing death. In recent years, the sentences have gone up, so six years is well within the range.”

Donald told the St. Thomas courtroom he balanced both mitigating and aggravating factors in making his decision.

Mitigating factors included Lemke’s young age, no prior record, genuine remorse, and rehabilitation prospects.

Aggravating factors were his high blood alcohol concentration level and driving drunk down Talbot Street, a busy thoroughfare during rush hour.

“That’s his ultimate goal, is to determine a proportionate sentence, and he determined that six years was proportionate based on the circumstances of the offense, coupled with the circumstances of the offender,” said Cake. “Is it enough? Well, that’s subjective. I personally think that it is because it’s within the range the case law provides.”

Judging by the hundreds of comments on a St. Thomas Facebook group, the six-year sentence isn’t enough. Many think similarly to Payne and want 20-year-to-life sentence, and a lifetime driving prohibition.

MADD Canada CEO Steve Sullivan said the sentence of six years is much tougher than we would have seen a decade ago.

“These are difficult cases because on the one hand, if I was that family then six years really would not be enough for the for the life of a young person,” Sullivan told CTV News. “On the other hand, our system looks at a variety of different factors when it sentences someone. The six-year sentence, while appreciated people might think it’s not enough, is kind of in line with what we’re tending to see, and that’s actually a trend up.”

When it comes to sentence length, there is several cases over the past decade in the London area which can be referenced.

“We’ve seen the sentences, kind of head up towards that six-year range, and I think that’s good,” said Cake.

“Recently our government in here in the province of Ontario came out with a lifetime driving ban for people who have been convicted of impaired causing death,” Cake continued. “It doesn’t apply in this case (Lemke) because you’re sentenced to the sentence available at the time of your crime. Had this incident happened, let’s say yesterday and a year from now the perpetrator was sentenced, there would be a lifetime ban. You can see a move toward harsher penalties in our province as it stands right now”.

Circling back to Payne’s belief Lemke should have been given a life sentence.

Sullivan believes it’s important to send messages to people who drink and drive by handing down stiff penalties, however there is not a lot of evidence that longer sentences are a deterrent.

“I think we all assume that if we just give a life sentences, that people would stop doing this, but there’s not a lot of evidence to suggest that’s the case,” said Sullivan. “No one who’s driving impaired ever thinks they’re going to get into a crash, and that’s the challenge we have is because we could have 10-year sentences, or 15, but if you don’t ever think it’s going to happen to you, which these drivers don’t, then that sentence means nothing to you.”

He does add that Ontario and Quebec have seen larger penalties of 16-17 years in recent years.

Justice Donald could only apply the necessary legal principles to the law and apply that law to the facts.

“It will not and cannot be taken as assigning a value to the life lost, the injuries received, both physical and emotional or the lives forever altered,” Donald told the court.

All parties involved understand there will never be justice for the victims.

“There is no sentence which will satisfy someone who has lost a child,” said Sullivan.