When it comes to sentencing in B.C., a drunk driver who injures or kills someone is better off fleeing the scene than staying and offering help until police arrive, according to a Crown prosecutor in a fatal Burnaby hit-and-run case.
Marcel Genaille, 37, was in Vancouver provincial court Thursday to be sentenced for leaving the scene of a crash that killed 59-year-old husband and father of two James "Mark" Peters on Canada Way by Imperial Street on June 19, 2021 as Peters was riding his motorcycle to work.
Genaille was handed an 18-month conditional sentence with eight months of house arrest and 10 months under curfews.
For the first 12 months of his sentence, he is not allowed to be in the driver's seat of any vehicle except for work.
Crown prosecutor Mark Myhre had called for a two-year jail sentence and a five-year driving ban.
He had argued that an even longer sentence would have been appropriate if it weren't for Genaille's guilty plea and his traumatic upbringing as an Indigenous man dealing with the impacts of colonialism.
During the first part of the sentencing in December, Myhre argued Genaille's sentence, and that of anyone else who flees the scene of an accident, should remove any "strategic incentive" for doing so.
Myhre noted the maximum sentences for leaving the scene of an accident involving death and for impaired driving causing death are the same – life in prison.
But the range of sentences actually imposed in B.C. for impaired driving causing death "tops out" at 10 years in prison, while the ceiling for leaving the scene of an accident causing death is two years, Myhre said.
"It doesn't make sense," he said. "When you look at the sentencing range for leaving the scene and you look at the sentencing range for the crimes that could have potentially caused the collision, impaired driving being the primary one, it's a straightforward calculus to leave the scene."
Genaille was not charged with impaired driving, and B.C. provincial court Judge Andrea Brownstone made clear Thursday he was not being sentenced for causing Peters' death, only for leaving the scene.
She also noted the Crown had no evidence Genaille was impaired at the time of the crash.
In his submissions, however, Myhre pointed out Genaille "prevented society from really getting to the bottom of what caused that collision" by fleeing the scene.
"The simple fact is, we will never know," Myhre said. "We won't know what was in his blood that day, if anything. It's not aggravating that it could have been this or that. Crown can't prove that there was anything. But that's why general deterrence is so important. We need people to stay at the scene."
'Grievously injured'
Peters was stopped at a red light on Canada Way by Imperial Street just after 9:45 on June 19, 2021, when he was rear-ended by Genaille driving a Honda Accord at about 76 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, according to agreed facts presented in court.
Peters was "ladled" onto the hood of the Accord, where his head struck the A pillar, and he came to rest 17 metres north of stop line.
His Harley Davidson motorcycle was located 64 meters north of stop line, according to the facts.
Peters was "grievously injured" and never regained consciousness; he was pronounced dead in hospital two hours later.
Three eye witnesses said the Accord didn't stop after the crash.
After lying to police the following day, telling them he had been at his recovery home that night, Genaille pleaded guilty nearly two years later, 11 days before his trial was schedule to begin in May 2023.
'Shattered'
Peters' family was "shattered and devastated" by his death, according to victim impact statements read in court.
The crash happened on the day before Father's Day, and Peters' sister, Esther said it was on Father's Day that she had to tell her dad that the son who had first made him a father was dead.
Peters' daughter Stephanie told the court her father had been the "pillar" of the household.
"When we lost him it came crumbling down," she said.
Heather, Peters' other daughter, said his death has left "a void that cannot be filled."
Jojo, Peters' wife of 28 years, echoed her daughters' pain.
"Now that he's not with us anymore, it's so lonely, and there's been an emptiness in our lives that we will feel every day," she said.
The sentence
In delivering her sentence, Brownstone noted the seriousness of Genaille's crime, the impact on Peters' family and the fact Genaille lied to police.
But she also had to consider Genaille's background, his guilty plea and his steps toward rehabilitation, she said.
As for allowing Genaille to serve his sentence in the community, Brownstone said doing so wouldn't present a risk to the public.
She pointed to the fact Genaille had been under court-ordered conditions without issue since July 2022 and hadn't been charged with any new offences.
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