Photo Credit: James Palinsad/Flickr
On September 27, 2015, Gary and Neriza Neville’s minivan was struck by a speeding SUV in Vaughan, Ontario. Gary perished in the motor vehicle accident, along with his three grandchildren Daniel, Harrison, and Milly Neville-Lake. They were aged nine, five, and two, respectively.
The driver of the SUV, 29 year old Marco Muzzo, had just landed in the GTA from his bachelor party in Las Vegas, and may have had a blood alcohol level twice the legal limit. He has been charged with four counts of impaired driving causing death, along with a slew of lesser charges.
Jennifer Neville-Lake lost all three of her children in the accident. “It’s like [the] worst nightmare, as a daughter, as a parent, to have to go through and just know it was caused by someone’s stupidity,” she said. “It just kills me.”
Motor vehicle accidents caused by impaired driving are all too common in Canada. In 2010-11, 48,000 impaired driving cases were brought before the courts. While driving fatalities have steadily declined over the past two decades, instances of drunk driving have continued to plague every class of Canadian society. A Toronto Star article addressing the issue produced some striking thoughts:
According to statistics from the organization MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving) “every day, on average, four Canadians are killed and 175 are injured in impairment-related crashes.”
Cops do it — more than 60, from various police forces around Ontario, have been disciplined for drinking and driving since 2010, according to a recent report in the Star. Mothers do it. Teachers do it. Politicians do it. First responders and doctors do it. And, alas, allegedly a vastly privileged young man with previous provincial offences for drinking and also for speeding.
The “vastly privileged young man” the article refers to is, of course, Marco Muzzo. The Muzzo family owns Marel Contractors construction company and is worth somewhere in the area of $1.8 billion, according to Canadian Business magazine.
Following his arrest, Muzzo’s high-powered defence lawyer, Brian Greenspan, who has represented the likes of Justin Bieber, sought to paint his client as a man fully aware of the consequences of his actions.
“Virtually from the outset of the tragedy, Marco Muzzo has accepted full responsibility and accountability for his conduct and the devastating consequences of that conduct,” Greenspan told reporters. “Actions more than words are the true expression of the remorse that he feels and that he wishes to convey to the family for the deaths of Daniel, Harrison and Milly Neville-Lake and their grandfather, Gary Neville, and for the injuries sustained by others.”
In accordance with these words, Greenspan announced that his client would plead guilty at his next court appearance, which is set for February 4, 2016. A sentencing hearing is scheduled to follow on February 23 and 24.
A guilty plea will certainly expedite the legal process, and will hopefully provide some strand of solace for the grieving parents. However, Maclean’s magazine reported in a recent article that critics are anticipating a light sentence of one or two years. Staggering as that may seem, it is far from exceptional in Canada. Of the 48,000 drunk driving cases mentioned earlier in this article, only eight per cent of those convicted spent time in prison. Even in cases where a motor vehicle accident caused death, the average sentence was around two and a half years.
Maclean’s provided some additional examples of lenient sentencing in their article:
In December, Richard Suter of Edmonton was sentenced after admitting to drinking two vodkas and part of a beer in the hours before hitting and killing a two-year-old and refusing to give a breath test. With no top-dog lawyer but, perhaps just as importantly, a wife who passionately testified that Suter loved children and will forever be haunted by the incident, he was sentenced to just a four-month term in jail when the judge ruled Suter had not been impaired. (Prosecutors have launched an appeal.) And Sabastian Prosa, who landed one of the harshest penalties among impaired drivers in Canada, was sentenced in October after killing two Ontarians and injuring one, then telling an unlikely tale under oath about someone spiking his drink. He’ll be out of prison by 2020.
It’s clear that Canadians that are convicted of drunk driving receive punishment disproportionate to the danger they pose others. If you have been injured in a motor vehicle accident related to impaired driving, you may have other options than to rely on the criminal justice system. An experienced, qualified personal injury lawyer can help you access the restitution you deserve for your injuries. Contact Neinstein Personal Injury Lawyers today for more information.
Greg Neinstein
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