Case information

Criminal law — Sentencing — Conditional sentence of imprisonment — Impaired driving causing death — Whether Quebec Court of Appeal erred in law in dismissing objectives of denunciation and deterrence in context of offence of impaired driving causing death — Whether Court of Appeal erred in law in failing to attach to conditional sentence of imprisonment truly punitive conditions of nature to limit liberty of respondent.

Case summaries are prepared by the Office of the Registrar of the Supreme Court of Canada (Law Branch). Please note that summaries are not provided to the Judges of the Court. They are placed on the Court file and website for information purposes only.

This is a sentencing case in which Karine Rioux pleaded guilty to a charge of having caused death while driving with an alcohol level in her blood exceeding the legal limit. The parties agreed on the length of the sentence but not on the manner in which that sentence will be served.

The trial judge found that Ms. Rioux did not represent a danger to the safety of the community. However, with the goal of satisfying the objectives of denunciation and deterrence, an unconditional prison sentence had to be ordered. In the Court of Appeal’s view, the judge committed an error in principle in giving definitive weight to the objectives of denunciation and deterrence. That error by the judge was sufficient to warrant the intervention of the court. Consequently, it substituted a sentence of imprisonment of two years less a day to be served in the community for the sentence.