Bégin applauded for rejecting ‘farce’ sentencing recommendation
As controversy continues to swirl around one Nova Scotia judge, another is being applauded for “trying to do the right thing” in rejecting a joint sentencing recommendation for drunk driving that he called a “farce.”
During a sentencing hearing for a man who pleaded guilty to impaired driving, Judge Alain Bégin rejected a recommendation from the Crown and defence for a sentence of two years probation and one day in prison served with his day in court. Bégin described the recommendation as a “farce” and said if he accepted it, the accused, Gordon Louis MacDonald – who was convicted of refusing a breathalyser test in 2009 – “would walk out of the courtroom laughing.”
“I give the judge a lot of credit,” MADD Canada CEO Andrew Murie said in an interview. “He called them for this. It would’ve been a lot simpler for the judge in this case just to accept the joint submission.”
The Crown lawyer, Steve Melnick, told the court that Crown policy only takes previous convictions within five years into consideration in sentencing. If it had happened in the last five years, Melnick would’ve recommended a sentence of at least 30 days in jail.
Murie said that Crown policy isn’t in the Criminal Code, and the previous conviction should be considered. He thinks the judge agrees, “if you read between the lines.”
Bégin said multiple times that MacDonald has a drinking problem, even though a presentence report said he hadn’t had a drink since April 2016 when he was pulled over by Cape Breton Regional Police.
“You have an alcohol problem,” Bégin said in court. “The definition of having an alcohol problem is getting in trouble with the law.”