SENTENCE - JOINT SUBMISSION REJECTED AND JAIL SENTENCE INCREASED
Sunday, March 8, 2015 at 9:44AM 22 year old Mr. Gibson was driving south on Highway 22 from Cochrane, intending to go to Calgary. He pulled out to pass, sideswiped one vehicle, forced a second into the ditch and then collided head-on with a third. Mr. Gibson killed one person and caused bodily harm to another. He had no prior record and pleaded guilty. His BAC was between .170% and .181%. Crown and defence jointly submitted a two year jail sentence to the court. The court was concerned, asked for further submissions, but still rejected the joint submission and imposed a jail sentence of two years and eight months. The Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal as the sentence jointly submitted was unfit. The Court actually concluded:
A fit sentence here would be no less than four years. In the circumstances of this case, a two-year sentence for impaired driving causing death is unfit. As a result, the sentencing judge properly rejected the joint submission, instead imposing a sentence of 2 years 8 months. Though this is itself below what we would consider a fit sentence in this case, we dismiss the appeal since the Crown did not give notice of an intention to contend for an increase under our fair notice rule. R. v. Gibson, 2015 ABCA 41