Case of fatal 2016 highway crash near Young, Sask. resolved with guilty plea from B.C. man
CBC
The case of a British Columbia man involved in a fatal 2016 highway crash in Saskatchewan was resolved after he entered guilty pleas to different charges earlier this fall.
Kiel Stewart got a four-year-and-three-month sentence — time served — when he pleaded guilty in Saskatoon provincial court in September to two counts of being party to the offence of driving with a blood alcohol level over the legal limit causing death and one count of causing bodily harm, prosecutor John Knox confirmed Friday.
Stewart, 34, is now on probation for two years, subject to a three-year driving prohibition.
The guilty pleas ended a court process that began with Stewart's conviction in November 2018 and subsequent sentencing in early 2019.
Stewart was given a six-year sentence in February 2019 after being found guilty of impaired driving, dangerous driving, impaired driving causing death and other charges.
Stewart was allegedly behind the wheel of a Mercedes sedan that crashed at a high speed, killing Adam Powell, 27, and Brett Busse, 28, and injuring David McCarthy.
Stewart appealed the conviction and it was granted on Oct. 13, 2020.
The Court of Appeal's decision to grant the appeal was based on a discrepancy of when and where witnesses saw the Mercedes and when those witnesses called 911 to report what they had seen.
The verdict was unreasonable because "the trial judge made findings of fact which were incompatible with evidence that she neither contradicted nor rejected," the Court of Appeal said referring to Shannon Metivier.
"I agree with that submission and would accordingly quash the convictions and order a new trial," Justice Brian Barrington-Foote wrote in the Oct. 23, 2020 Saskatchewan Court of Appeal decision.
That led to the latest trial on Sept. 20 of this year.
Stewart's defence had argued on appeal that no evidence was presented during the original trial about whether Stewart was driving the vehicle when it crashed in Young, about 75 km southeast of Saskatoon.
On Friday, Knox said that accepting the guilty pleas on the "party to the offence" charge does not mean the Crown is saying that Stewart was not driving at the time of the crash. Instead, the prosecution is silent on the point.
Run 3 Space | Play Space Running Game
Traffic Jam 3D | Online Racing Game
Duck Hunt | Play Old Classic Game
Edgar Spence keeps a folded bundle of receipts for meal expenses his family has had to cover out-of-pocket since they were forced out of their home community by wildfires in northern Manitoba.
A man accused in a series of north-central Edmonton arsons is guilty of starting fires that damaged or destroyed several homes in 2020 and 2021, a judge ruled Thursday.
Residents of Ward 8 in Hamilton are likely to be back at the polls once again after city councillors voted Wednesday to hold a byelection there to replace former councillor John-Paul Danko, who was recently elected as a member of parliament.
Work on Windsor's large Banwell Road interchange and corridor construction projects is currently on hold after Butler's gartersnakes were discovered.
Etched on a poster board the size of her body, Mary McPherson held up a pencil-drawn portrait of Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
One of the largest old elm trees in Toronto — possibly in all of southern Ontario — is on its last legs.
It's graduation week for many University of Guelph students, but it's a particularly special day for one 68-year-old whose walk across the convocation stage was 49 years in the making.
Scientists on Prince Edward Island have created a new warning system to help Maritime farmers avoid a costly disease called fusarium head blight, which can decrease grain yields while contaminating the crop with toxins.
An N.W.T. deputy minister says the territorial government is hoping to use federal housing money to clear derelict homes from communities.
WARNING: This article contains graphic details, references sexual assault and may affect those who have experienced sexual violence or know someone impacted by it.
Monique Gordon's second-floor apartment in Rexdale is sweltering hot all year-round — even in the winter.
As Fanshawe works toward reducing its staff by more than a third, the college announced Thursday that 40 jobs have been eliminated through downsizing, early retirements and unfilled vacant positions.