A Prince George man has won a 12-year break from the B.C. Appeals Court on a driving prohibition.
In a ruling issued March 28, a 15-year prohibition against Kyle Drake Baraniuk, 49, was reduced to three years.
When the original prohibition was issued in 2001, Baraniuk had been facing a lifetime prohibition as put forward in a joint submission by the Crown and defence counsels, a circumstance the Appeals Court described as "unusual."
And while the sentencing judge felt 15 years was appropriate, it turned out the statutory maximum prohibition was three years, a fact that "everyone overlooked or was unaware of," the Appeals Court said.
The circumstances that brought the matter to court in the first place were not provided in the ruling.
It's at least the second time Baraniuk has had a brush with the law. In December 1999, he faced several charges following a 10-kilometre car chase through the city after police responded to an extortion complaint at a Central Street motel.
Police caught Baraniuk after his car hit a fence in the Fifth Avenue and Tabor Boulevard area. He was taken to Prince George Regional Hospital with bumps and bruises and was later released.
A female passenger was also taken to hospital and was not charged.
Six months later, Baraniuk was acquitted of five charges he faced - assault, uttering threats, dangerous driving, pointing a firearm and possession of a weapon dangerous - and Crown entered a stay of proceedings on a sixth charge - driving while prohibited.
