Sending criminals off to jail isn't just about punishment or rehabilitation.
Society needs to protect itself from individuals who have injured others and will likely cause more harm in the future.
Christopher Clayton Scott McGuiney was sentenced to federal prison Tuesday for four years for killing Duane Francis Pearson two-and-a-half years ago near Fraser Lake.
McGuiney, 31, was drunk when he drove his full-size pickup head-on into Pearson's SUV. Pearson was 46 and was on his way to work at the same Fraser Lake sawmill where his killer also held a job.
The crash broke both of Pearson's legs and caused such devastating internal injuries that he died at the scene.
He left behind a loving wife and three beautiful daughters.
McGuiney walked away from the crash.
How drunk was he at the time? His blood-alcohol level was measured at .192 and .214 or about two-and-a-half times above the legal limit of .08.
This wasn't McGuiney's first criminal offence for drunk driving.
It was his third, on top of 10 other previous driving prohibitions and suspensions.
In 2007, McGuiney was banned for five years from driving. That ban expired in 2012. On the night of Jan. 17, 2014, McGuiney drove drunk and killed his co-worker.
Along with the four-year sentence, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ron Tindale issued a 10-year driving ban to McGuiney.
While out on bail awaiting his case to go before the judge, McGuiney breached a court order forbidding him from consuming alcohol. In a pre-sentence report after McGuiney pled guilty to the charge in February, he stated he doesn't have a problem with alcohol.
The court was told the range of jail time for this kind of offence is from 18 months to eight years. Tindale accepted Crown counsel's recommendation of four years, rejecting the request from McGuiney's lawyer for two years behind bars.
The range, however, does not match what's on the books.
Section 255 of the Criminal Code of Canada states that anyone who causes death by impairing driving (subsection 3) and driving with a blood alcohol level over the legal limit (subsection 3.1) is "liable to imprisonment for life."
But then there's 255.1, titled "Aggravating circumstances for sentencing purposes."
Remember how drunk McGuiney was that night? Because his blood-alcohol level was more than 0.16, that's an "aggravating circumstance," which normally means the sentence is even stiffer.
Court did hear mitigating factors, as well.
McGuiney had been in a toxic relationship with a woman and she was the one who encouraged McGuiney to drive them and one other person from the house party they had been at to a pub in Fort Fraser. Since the crash, McGuiney's health has worsened, his lawyer stated, pointing to weight loss and insomnia that led him to quit his job at the sawmill, where he had worked since he was 17. It will be tough to find work with only a Grade 12 education once he gets out but his family is behind him and vows to take him in when he's released, the judge was told.
Pearson's family also displayed aggravation on the court steps after McGuiney's sentence.
"Through the courts here, the sentencing doesn't reflect the seriousness, I don't think, of the crime that was committed," Pearson's brother Darren said. "Some of the laws need to be changed to make a mandatory sentence that is longer than four years, I believe."
The sentence, however lax or harsh, mandatory or discretionary, won't bring Pearson back to his loved ones. The questions, however, remain degree of punishment, prospects for rehabilitation and protecting society from someone as reckless and irresponsible as McGuiney.
As Pearson's brother points out, four years seems low for a crime that caused a death, particularly when the offender had been punished for driving drunk many times before. Rehabilitation will depend on McGuiney's desire to accept he's an alcoholic, take advantage of substance abuse programs available in federal institutions and his continued willingness to stay sober once he's released.
As for society's sake, a 10-year driving ban seems an inadequate level of protection from a serial violator. McGuiney's alcoholism is tragic but his inability (and unwillingness, based on his own self-diagnosis) to deal with his disease led to a wrongful death, a far greater tragedy. As a result, Canadian law must do more to protect its citizens from the devastating harm drunk drivers cause.
