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.
A year ago, then Gatineau mayor France Bélisle abruptly resigned, citing a hostile political climate. This week she has spoken out, offering more details of her complaints about municipal politics in Quebec.
One man is dead and three others are in police custody after a deadly assault on a Manitoba First Nation.
When Piper sends her son to school every morning, she calls out a similar refrain: "I love you, try your best, I'll be here to pick you up when school is done," hoping he will be safe and supported.
A downtown Edmonton business advocacy group is worried about how a series of planned bridge closures due to construction could impact the city.
Vancouver resident Tara Garofano says she made a dinner reservation on Valentine's Day — not for romance, but to take advantage of the final hours of the federal government's temporary Goods and Services Tax (GST) holiday.
Students at McMaster University in Hamilton are questioning the institution's commitment to the prevention of sexual violence after staffing changes at the office responsible for that work on campus.
Windsor-Essex could see its biggest snowfalls of the year in what Canada's weather agency is calling a "highly impactful" storm.
Alberta Fish and Wildlife Enforcement Services (FWES) is looking into reports of two young cougars that were spotted alone near Canmore this week.
All crew members of the MSC Baltic III have been rescued after their vessel ran aground close to the Lark Harbour shoreline off Newfoundland and Labrador's west coast.
Here's a look at some of the closures, and special events, happening in Thunder Bay on the Family Day weekend:
If you live in or around Toronto, you may want to keep that shovel nearby.
As the Ontario provincial election campaign heats up, voters in Waterloo region and surrounding areas are making their priorities clear.
More Canadians, including Prince Edward Islanders, are joining the movement to support Canadian-made goods and buy local in response to U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to impose hefty tariffs on Canadian products.