David Tice

The respondents pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death after driving at excessive speeds and colliding with a taxi, killing the driver.

At a pre-trial conference, the Crown undertook not to appeal if conditional sentences were imposed.

The trial judge imposed conditional sentences of two years less a day with house arrest for the first year, plus a four-year driving prohibition.

The Attorney General appealed the sentences.

The Court of Appeal held that the Crown's undertaking did not bar the Attorney General's statutory right to appeal and did not constitute an abuse of process.

While the trial judge did not err in principle in imposing conditional sentences, the sentences were demonstrably unfit as they lacked sufficient punitive conditions to address denunciation and general deterrence.

The Court allowed the appeal, extending the house arrest to the full term of the sentences and increasing the driving prohibitions to seven years.

The appellant appealed the sentence imposed by the trial judge, arguing that the trial judge misused information provided in the pre-sentence report.

The Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal, finding no error in principle and holding that the absence of remorse was a relevant consideration in determining whether a conditional sentence was appropriate.

The sentence imposed was found to be fit.