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Judge warns 'gloves are coming off' as he sends drunk driver to jail
Joint-recommendation from the Crown and defence ignored
Provincial court Chief Judge Ray Wyant (FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)
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A Manitoba judge has taken the rare step of ignoring a joint-recommendation from the Crown and defence in sending a first-time drunk driver to jail.
Jesse Friesen appeared in court Wednesday hoping to get a fine and one-year driving ban under terms of the plea bargain struck by the Crown and defence. Instead, he left with a 14-day stint behind bars, a 15-month driving prohibition and two years of supervised probation.
"I want the public to know...I’m sending a message and a warning that the gloves are coming off when it comes to these types of offences," said provincial court Judge Ray Wyant. He said he’s well aware the Court of Appeal has given judges strict instructions to pass on plea bargains only in the rarest of circumstances.
But Wyant said he couldn’t ignore the serious facts of the case or the broader issue of how impaired driving continues to be a major issue in the province. He said this sentence – which risks being appealed – will be worth it even if it saves "just one life."
Friesen has no prior criminal record, didn’t hurt or injure anyone, has lost his opportunity to become a firefighter and already had his name published in an exclusive Free Press story on the case earlier this week.
But Wyant said despite all these factors, along with genuine remorse from Friesen, he needed to come down hard.
"This is not just about Mr. Friesen," he said Wednesday. Wyant said this is the first time in his lengthy career he’s ever issued a jail sentence for a case like this.
Friesen was arrested last summer with a 0.33 blood-alcohol reading, which indicates an extreme level of intoxication. He was returning to Winnipeg from his rural cottage one evening and managed to avoid hitting other motorists before ending up in a ditch on Highway 59.
Wyant was particularly upset with Friesen's level of impairment, more than four times the legal limit for driving, saying he's heard many expert witnesses over the years say people in that extreme range are often struggling to stay alive with acute alcohol poisoning.
"I can't imagine how much alcohol it would take to get you up to .33. I can't even contemplate how you could get in a car and drive. That's an incredible amount of alcohol," Wyant said earlier this week after hearing sentencing submissions.
The veteran judge said he's grown tired of seeing so many similar cases on his docket, specifically on the outskirts of Winnipeg, where tragic crashes have become too common.
"We've had far too many people maimed or killed on Manitoba highways," Wyant said. Many city-dwellers head for their cottages on weekends, but people like Friesen put them all in peril, he said.
"How many people are sitting at their cottage drinking all day, then getting behind the wheel and putting thousands of lives of Manitobans at risk?" Wyant said. "That is intolerable conduct."
Friesen, who has a cottage at Gull Lake, was unable to say how much alcohol he consumed that day. But he denied having a drinking problem.
"Almost anyone would be passed out at that level if they're not a seasoned drinker. That level... would probably kill most people," Wyant said.
Friesen’s lawyer agreed with Wyant that drunk driving continues to be a major problem but urged him not to unfairly punish Friesen for the cumulative affect of everyone else's wrongdoing.
Wyant said he understands people like Friesen usually don't get jail sentences but said tragic circumstances will likely continue to play out -- both on highways and in courtrooms -- if something doesn't change. "What's it going to take?" he asked.
www.mikeoncrime.com
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Updated on Wednesday, July 11, 2012 at 5:29 PM CDT: Adds photo of judge
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