[grainfedprairieboy]

$1:

A prosecutor is calling for a nine-month prison sentence as well as 240 hours of community work and a five-year ban on driving for Emma Czornobaj, who was convicted of Criminal Negligence Causing Death and Dangerous Driving Causing Death in June.

Read more: http://montreal.ctvnews.ca/prosecutor-s ... z3DpQCiJcX

Stupid drivers who don't think or pay attention and kill, injure or cause property damages and do so every day in this country typically pay for it with regret, higher insurance premiums and maybe a little public shaming.

In this case I just don't understand why the justice system is pursuing such a stiff penalty when there was zero criminal intent involved. For comparison a full blown Manslaughter conviction will net you as little as four years.

Is it due to the media sensationalism of the case? Is it because the woman who stopped her car has been seen as pretty remorseless and if she was crying and apologising all the time she'd be off scot-free?

I don't condone for a second her irresponsible and unthinking actions on that hwy but heesh, I can come up with a pretty long list of criminal behaviours commited by career type bad guys that warrant much stiffer fines than hers that seem to be outright ignored by the judiciary.

Your thoughts?

[BeaverFever]

Clearly she had no criminal intent and although she was foolish, she was acting out of innocence and goodwill. It's not like she was drunk driving or drag racing. I'm sure that the guilt and aguish she feels is more punishement than any court can deliver and will probably last her a lifetime. I don't see any benefit to sending her to prison.

Unfortunately, there will always be people in society who enjoy screaming for a pound a flesh and want to see people flayed and lynched in the public square. They equate justice with suffering and to them it doesn't matter if they had no criminal intent, are mentally handicapped, juveniles or whatever. I think this lynch mob mentality has always been part of society but we now live in an increasingly populist age where people equate mob rule with democracy and politicians and officials feel more pressure to cater these types of sentiments.

[andyt]

I thought this was all settled? What the prosecutor is asking for seems reasonable to me. She had no criminal intent, but neither does somebody who texts while driving or is speeding or keeps their car in poor repair. Her actions were illegal and it was foreseeable that they would cause an accident - death since this is a highway. Reduce the prison sentence a bit,keep the 5 year prohibition, and increase community service a lot. Have her speak to young women how floating around in an estrogen haze of "aw, wookie the wittle duckies" without regard to the larger picture can be just as hazardous as testosterone fuelled "look how fast I can drive."

[martin14]

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

although she was foolish, she was acting out of innocence and goodwill.

People died because of her actions.

9 months would still be lenient.

Driving ban should be permanent.

[saturn_656]

Seeing all the jokers that have gotten off with little or no jail time for much more grievous offences I can not fathom sending this woman to prison for nine months.

[BeaverFever]

martin14 martin14:

BeaverFever BeaverFever:

although she was foolish, she was acting out of innocence and goodwill.

People died because of her actions.

9 months would still be lenient.

Driving ban should be permanent.

How about we chop off her hands and gouge out here eyes too?

After all, people died because of her actions.

[Xort]

martin14 martin14:

People died because of her actions.
9 months would still be lenient.
Driving ban should be permanent.

While she was stopped illegally she could have just as easy been stopped for a legal reason, like being in a crash. The bike rider is the one that cause the deaths by a combination of factors such as driving too fast, following too close, not paying enough attention to the road.

The points of too fast and too close I think everyone that's ever driven near bikes in traffic can agree is a common tend with people on bikes.

With such a harsh punishment it's sending the message that you are legally responsible for the actions of people behind you that are driving in a way that they are unable to stop in case of an emergency.

A terrible blow to safe driving in Canada. The only positive is that the careless driving on the biker only killed himself and his passenger.

Slow down, open space, pay attention to the road; the life you save might be your own.

[BeaverFever]

She was already outside of the car helpiing the ducks when the motorcycle hit. Maybe she whouldn't have been stopped on the roadway (what if it had been a child on the road, or a person in distress?0 but as Xort says, its not clear why the motorcyclist crashed into her. Generally speaking, when you rear-end someone, it's your fault for following too closely or not looking where youre going.

[andyt]

Sorry. It's illegal to stop in the fast lane of a highway for no reason, and for good reason. She's an idiot who needs a judicial spanking. But when we've had killers (women of course), who meant to cause harm, get house arrest or probation, makes a good case that the jail portion of the sentence is too severe. Or the sentencing for those killers is too lenient.

[BeaverFever]

Well I don't argue that it's a traffic offence to stop on the highway without good reason, that's a statement of fact (alhtough I'm not sure what the criteria is for "reason" to stop...ducks on the road? a dog? a porcupine? a person? debris that could cause expensive damage to the car? I'll defer to the courts).

But how many people would have simply crushed the ducks without a second thought? Not many I bet. I see people stop on the roadway for turtles, frogs, geese, etc. all the time. I've never seen anyone get out of the car, but they do stop or at least drive around very slowly. Never once have I seen a person just squash the animal and keep going without a second thought. That probably has more to do with not messing up their car as anything else...nobody wants to be scraping duck parts out of their grill and other crevases.

Also, if she had stopped for good reason (say, there was a chunck of concrete in the road or a child had run out into traffic) the motorcyclist still would have crashed into her and died, no? At the very least, the motorcycle bears some responsibility because you never know when the vehicle in front of you may have to stop and need to space yourself accordingly.

[herbie]

A criminal charge and jail time 'sounds reasonable' for someone else's careless driving?
IF you hit a stopped car... it's 100% your fault.

[andyt]

She didn't stop to avoid squashing them. She stopped on the left shoulder, halfway into traffic while she tried to herd them off that shoulder. She should have at least found a way to stop fully on the shoulder. And, if it comes down to humans vs animals, I'll take the humans.

Sure, the motorcyclist bears some responsibility, and he paid a price, Just as, in my opinion at least, the person who gets in a car with a drunk driver and is killed or injured bears some responsibility, but we go after the driver.

She should be penalized. We can argue if the prison time is too severe, or other sentences to light in comparison, but she should be penalized. Remember this is the prosecution arguing. Her lawyer will probably argue for community service and a commuted sentence. Keep the driving prohibition, I say, no matter what.

[saturn_656]

andyt andyt:

She didn't stop to avoid squashing them. She stopped on the left shoulder, halfway into traffic while she tried to herd them off that shoulder. She should have at least found a way to stop fully on the shoulder. And, if it comes down to humans vs animals, I'll take the humans.

She couldn't have known it would come down to animals vs. Humans unless she's clairvoyant.

I'm sure if she thought an inattentive driver would rear end her she'd have kept on truckin'.

[andyt]

All well and good, but what she did was illegal and somebody got killed. many people could use the excuse that they didn't think anything would happen; drunk driving, speeding, texting, what have you. What she did was stupid and illegal and somebody got killed. We punish people for that in Canada.

[saturn_656]

Okay Mr. Law and Order what have you done with andy?