IMPAIRED DRIVING
Six years in crash that killed two
SASKATOON The Crown’s desired 10-year sentence for a man convicted in a fatal Saskatchewan drunk driving rollover is pushing the limits of sentencing, according to a Saskatoon provincial court judge.
Those limits “deserve to be pushed,” Crown prosecutor John Knox argued.
Judge Shannon Metivier sentenced Kiel Stewart, 32, to six years in prison for driving with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit and causing the deaths of his rear-seat passengers: 28-year-old Brett Busse from Watrous, Sask., and 27-year-old Adam Powell from High River, Alta.
Metivier said the prison term serves sentencing purposes of both denunciation and rehabilitation.
Stewart was driving 140 kilometres an hour with a blood-alcohol level between .166 and .198 when he flipped a car on Highway 2 near Young, Sask., on Oct. 15, 2016, Metivier said during Stewart’s sentencing hearing on Tuesday.
The speed and intoxication were aggravating factors, as was the fact that Stewart pinned the crash on his surviving friend, she said.
During his trial in 2017, Stewart admitted driving his friend’s car when the group left a Watrous bar, but testified he pulled over and switched seats with a surviving passenger before the single-vehicle crash.
Metiver found Stewart guilty of two counts each of dangerous driving, impaired driving and driving with a blood-alcohol level over the legal limit causing death, and one count of each charge causing bodily harm.
Stewart received concurrent sentences on the dangerous driving charges, while a judicial stay was entered on the impaired driving charges. He will be banned from driving for six years upon release.
The Crown wanted a 15-year driving prohibition. Defence lawyer Jay Watson argued for a sentence of four years followed by a three-year driving ban.
Watson said his client should get less than seven years, the sentence recently given to Robert Major, who was convicted last month of criminal negligence causing the deaths of his two sons and girlfriend. That case involved more deaths, egregious driving and a lengthy criminal record, Watson said. Knox noted that the Major case did not involve drunk driving.