Alberta man to be sentenced for 2022 impaired driving crash that killed Calgary couple

An Alberta man who admitted to being under the influence of fentanyl and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the 2022 deaths of Macy Boyce and Ethan Halford is scheduled to receive his sentence Thursday.

An Alberta man who admitted to being under the influence of fentanyl and pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing the 2022 deaths of Macy Boyce and Ethan Halford is scheduled to receive his sentence Thursday.

According to an agreed statement of facts, 43-year-old Richard Bell of Elnora was driving at speeds of nearly 200 kilometres per hour while under the influence on June 17 when his vehicle rear-ended the car Boyce and Halford were in on Highway 21, just north of Trochu, Alta.

The collision pushed the young Calgary couple's vehicle across the centre line and into the path of an oncoming semi-trailer truck.

Boyce, 20, and Halford, 21, were pronounced dead at the scene.

Bell also pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing bodily harm to the passenger of the vehicle he was operating as well as refusing to provide a blood sample.

Thursday's sentence hearing, scheduled for 9:30 a.m., follows a full day of court in Drumheller, Alta., where 72 victim impact statements were read by close family members and friends of Boyce and Halford.

Defence lawyer Hugh Sommerville insists alcohol played little factor in the crash, but instead it was Bell's drug consumption that was more concerning.