This is my vague memory at work. But on newstalk 1010 they made note of a guy who had 18 impaired driving infractions and racked another one when he killed a woman in a wheelchair.
14 or 18 or somewhere in that range. Can't remember exactly. Point was it was a ridiculous number and the guy was still driving. My guess was he wasn't licensed. If he was, that's criminal on the MoT's behalf.
If someone could bring up the case that would be nice.
From the media:
SALABERRY-DE-VALLEYFIELD, Que. -- It is the longest sentence ever handed down in Canada for a case of impaired driving -- life in prison -- and it's still not as tough as Crown prosecutors wanted.
A Quebec judge decided not to order dangerous offender status for Roger Walsh, which would have made him the first drunk driver slapped with that designation. But the judge still set history by handing a life sentence to the "incorrigible" repeat drunk driver -- which, according to experts, has never happened.
Still, Crown attorney Joey Dubois left court Wednesday imagining what might have been. He had hoped the case might establish a new precedent, with dangerous-offender designation and the additional safeguards it offers. "By asking that the accused be declared a dangerous offender, we submitted a scenario that seemed well-adapted to the situation with Mr. Walsh in all of the circumstances and conformed to our interpretation of the law," Dubois said.
"Justice (Michel) Mercier concluded the dangerous offender legislation was not meant to apply to offenders who commit this kind of crime."
Walsh, 57, pleaded guilty to mowing down Anee Khudaverdian, a wheelchair-bound mother, last October after a night of binge drinking.
It was her 47th birthday. It was his 19th drunk-driving conviction.
Mercier ruled that he couldn't put Walsh back on the street, after experts deemed he could simply never fight off the bottle. "Every measure taken in the past has failed. You are incapable of quitting drinking."
The victim's sister, Clara Khudaverdian, said the sentence was a strong one, but it would be up to politicians to make clear why recidivist drunk drivers can't qualify as dangerous offenders.
"We lost an opportunity, but we made history," Clara Khudaverdian said. "A life sentence has never been given out... I think it's something that we should celebrate."
In practical terms, the life sentence could wind up being just as harsh. In either option, Walsh can still seek parole after seven years.
-- The Canadian Press
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I don't know if there are any alcoholics reading this or if anyone has spent time with one to the point where they understand the mentality. The compulsion to drink can overpower all logic. I saw a buddy go from Kingsway millionaire to trailer park trash. He had some DUI's but fortunately only property damage. Smoked himself to death ( emphysema)
