No adult sentence for teen who killed cab driver

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This article was published 04/06/2010 (5788 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG – A high-risk car thief who was just 14 years old when he killed a Winnipeg cab driver with a speeding, stolen SUV will not be given an adult sentence.

Queen’s Bench Justice Lea Duval ruled late Friday morning the boy, who is now 16, will remain under the authority of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. She gave him the maximum sentence of two years closed custody, followed by one year of community supervision. Duval also exercised her discretion under the YCJA and gave the teen no credit for more than two years of time already served.

He was also given a 10-year driving prohibition. The youth pleaded guilty earlier this year to criminal negligence causing death and bodily harm for his role in the March 2008 crash that killed Antonio Lanzellotti.

The Crown was seeking an adult sentence against the teen, who comes from a prominent family of criminals with strong ties to the Mad Cowz street gangs. Several of those members were in court Friday morning.

Prosecutor Brent Davidson had requested another 23 months of jail, in addition to just over two years of time already spent in custody they concede should be given double-time credit. On paper, it would be noted as a six-year sentence.

Duval essentially imposed the exact sentence the Crown was seeking, but just under the guise of a youth disposition.

The teen – who could have been named if an adult sentence was imposed — was seeking just eight more months behind bars.

At his sentencing hearing earlier this spring, probation officials revealed how the teen breached an existing probation order 24 times in the weeks preceding the deadly crash. However, they used their own discretion and decided not to report any of the breaches to police.

Cheryl Dyck, who served as the boy’s probation officer, told court how the teen was originally sentenced on Feb. 8, 2008 on charges including car theft, drug offences and numerous breaches of court orders. The boy was given probation and placed on the most stringent youth criminal supervision program in Manitoba. His conditions included abstaining from alcohol and a nightly 10 p.m. curfew.

Dyck admits her department caught the teen violating his curfew on several occasions but never reported the incidents to police, who could have arrested him and detained him in custody on new charges. Instead, they upgraded his status to "high-risk" but allowed him to remain free in the community. Dyck said it’s not uncommon to ignore initial violations of young offenders.

"Once a pattern of non-compliance is established then we breach the client," she testified.

On the night of March 29, 2008, the boy had been drinking and consuming drugs with a large group of youths loitering around a downtown apartment building armed with two stolen vehicles. The group scattered when they saw police headed their way.

The boy was driving a Chevy Avalanche containing six other young offenders. He began racing a stolen Silverado that had the other seven youths, court was told. The boy reached speeds of 139 km/h — the legal limit is 60 km/h — and blew through two red lights on Portage Avenue before slamming into the taxi being driven by Lanzellotti at the corner of Portage and Maryland Street.

Lanzellotti, 55, died instantly. He suffered a massive skull fracture, broken ribs and legs and trauma to his brain and chest. A passenger in the cab was seriously injured.

The boy was ejected from the SUV and seriously injured. He initially denied any responsibility, telling police he was innocently walking down the street when he was struck by flying debris. He later admitted to being in the car but claimed another youth was driving. Police got him to admit the truth when DNA off the driver’s side airbag was a perfect match to him. The Crown agreed to drop a manslaughter charge in exchange for his guilty plea.

Dyck told court the boy has made great progress during his two years in youth custody but remains a medium risk to reoffend. She said his biggest obstacle is his own criminally entrenched family, although several relatives have since been deported to Africa.

"He has the ability, we believe, to learn from what happened and benefit from what we’re teaching him," said Dyck. "I think he’s way better equipped now to deal with the issue he’s going to face when he gets out."

The Crown supported having the boy serve the rest of an adult sentence in a youth facility because of the various treatment and programming options available to him. But Davidson said the limits of a youth sentence don’t express strong enough condemnation for the crime he committed.

City police Det.-Sgt. Kevin Kavitch also testified at the hearing about the high rate of car theft in Winnipeg at the time of Lanzellotti’s death. He provided statistics showing the vast majority of offenders are youths who deliberately try to engage police in high-speed chase, putting all on the road in danger. Kavitch said between Jan. 1, 2006 and the day Lanzellotti died, police in the stolen auto unit arrested 519 people, of whom 417 were young offenders.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca