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Judge's sentence could continue 'gloves-off' era

By: Mike McIntyre

Friday, Jul. 13, 2012 at 8:08 AM | Comments: 1

A Winnipeg man is fighting to stay out of jail for a drunken car crash -- just one day after another judge warned of a crackdown on drinking and driving.

Gordon Scully pleaded guilty Thursday to impaired driving causing bodily harm in the 2010 incident. He seeks a fine, citing several other case precedents where such a penalty was imposed.

The Crown is asking for a much stiffer sentence of six months in jail, an 18-month driving prohibition and one year of supervised probation. They called Scully a "potential killer on the road" who was in a state of "extreme intoxication" at the time of his arrest.

Provincial court Judge Tracey Lord has reserved her decision until Aug. 10.

Scully, 46, has no previous criminal record and is otherwise a model citizen, court was told. He was driving home from a night at the bar when he slammed into the victim's car on Kernaghan Avenue in Transcona. The female passenger suffered serious whiplash that continues to cause pain despite months of rehabilitation.

Scully initially told the police following his arrest he had consumed only two beers that evening. But a blood-alcohol reading taken two hours later registered a reading of 0.20. Experts say it would have been as high as 0.25 -- or triple the legal limit -- at the time of the crash.

"I screwed up. I hope that person is OK. I would apologize if I could," Scully told officers at the scene while displaying major signs of impairment, including slurred speech.

Scully then admitted he'd had four beers, later changing his story to eight and ultimately admitting he lost track, but it may have been more than a dozen.

Scully's hearing comes one day after another Manitoba judge, Ray Wyant, proclaimed the "gloves are coming off" in impaired-driving cases. Wyant ignored a joint recommendation to fine a first-time impaired-driving offender and instead sentenced him to 14 days in jail plus a 15-month driving ban and two years of probation.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca

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Posted by:Deborah Boschman

July 15, 2012 at 3:26 PM

Man, I wish that I had a copius amount of money!

WHERE are our politicians?

Are they hiding under some politically correct carpet of partisanship?

Let us elect some REAL leaders, for a change!

Why aren't our politicans offering us some incredibly STIFFER penalties for drunk driving?

Let's double, triple, quadruple the fines!

What about fining someone $10,000.00 for their FIRST drunk driving offence?

Would THAT be enough of a deterrent to cause someone to think TWICE about their poor choice?

WHEN, just when, are our politicians going to talk about some of the REAL ISSUES affecting us all within our society such as ADDICTIONS, self-control, self-discipline, poor choices that we make that affect us all, etc.?

This appears absolutely RIDICULOUS to me that we are still battling some of these SAME problems and/or issues!

Let's CHANGE the laws within our province, make them the STIFFEST within our nation and then let people decide IF they want to be STUPID enough to risk making this VERY POOR choice.

Would a $10,000.00 charge plus a jail sentence for the VERY FIRST offence modify people's behaviour?

Let's elect some LEADERS who have some GONADS!

Let's elect some LEADERS whom the electorate can RESPECT, who mean what they say and say what they mean.

Let's start getting TOUGH with ALL offenders everywhere, with ALL of the offences out there.

Let's provide HELP for people who cannot seem to control their addictions but whose addictions appear to be controlling them.

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