{"id":21889,"date":"2016-03-30T09:02:29","date_gmt":"2016-03-30T16:02:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=21889"},"modified":"2016-03-30T09:53:49","modified_gmt":"2016-03-30T16:53:49","slug":"man-gets-10-year-sentence-drunk-driving-crash-killed-four","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cjnotebook.com\/?p=21889","title":{"rendered":"Man gets 10-year sentence for drunk-driving crash that killed four"},"content":{"rendered":"

TORONTO, CANADA<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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By:<\/strong> Jacques Gallant<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n
Staff Reporter\/TheStar.com<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
Published on Tue Mar 29 2016<\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n
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While<\/span> her father\u2019s and children\u2019s killer may have received a 10-year prison term,\u00a0Jennifer Neville-Lake<\/a> is already serving a kind of life sentence.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Her last moments with her two youngest children were in the hospital, their beds next to each other and their hands intertwined, as they were taken off life support while family and friends sang \u201cOver the Rainbow.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cNone of my children saw 10 years. None,\u201d she told reporters after Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst imposed the sentence on convicted drunk driver Marco Muzzo<\/a> in a Newmarket courtroom.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhen you choose to drink and drive, you\u2019re hurting other families. You\u2019re killing someone else\u2019s babies \u2026 like all of mine were killed on a beautiful Sunday afternoon just after 4 o\u2019clock,\u201d Neville-Lake said outside the courthouse after the sentencing.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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With credit for time served in custody since the Sept. 27 crash, Muzzo, 29, still has 9 years and 4 months left to serve.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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He is eligible to apply for full parole after having served one-third of his sentence (about 3 years), and can apply for day parole six months prior to that (after having served about two-and-a-half-years)<\/span>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Harrison,<\/p>\n

KAY PRINCE PHOTOGRAPHY \/ THE CANADIAN PRESS<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Harrison, Milly and Daniel Neville-Lake (left to right) are shown in a handout photo.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Muzzo was also banned from driving for 12 years.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Public reaction to the penalty was predictably swift and angry, with many noting that it was too light and nowhere the near maximum punishment for impaired driving causing death, which is life in prison.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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But from a legal standpoint, lawyers and advocates noted that it was one of the highest sentences for this type of crime in Canadian history, and perhaps the stiffest for an individual with no prior criminal record and who pleaded guilty.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re going to see another case like this in the near future where someone necessarily attracts a 10-year sentence, but I think Justice Fuerst\u2019s sentence sends a message that the tariff has gone up for these types of offences in Ontario,\u201d said criminal defence lawyer Daniel Brown, who was not involved in the case.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Muzzo pleaded guilty in February to the Vaughan crash that killed Daniel Neville-Lake, 9, Harrison, 5, Milagros, 2, and their 65-year-old grandfather, Gary Neville. Their grandmother, who was driving, and great-grandmother were also seriously injured in the crash.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Court heard that Muzzo\u2019s blood-alcohol content was nearly three times the legal limit when he ran a stop sign and crashed into the family\u2019s minivan. He had picked up his vehicle at Pearson airport after returning from his bachelor party in Miami on a private plane.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Dressed in a black suit and dark blue shirt, Muzzo showed no emotion as he was asked to rise in the prisoner\u2019s box Tuesday morning to receive his sentence before a packed courtroom, including a large contingent seated with his mother, Dawn, and fianc\u00e9e Taryn Hampton.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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