Caleb Harrison was supposed to be doing the right thing. But it turned out to be very, very wrong and he'll now have nearly two years in jail to think about that dire mistake.
Harrison was out with four friends at a Brampton pub on July 5, 2005. He'd come ready to chauffeur his companions home, and he agreed to be their designated driver. But his resolve to stay sober fell off the wagon, and soon Harrison was drinking copious amounts of alcohol.
He became so drunk that his friends refused to get into his car with him at the end of the night. It was a decision that may have saved their lives, but it wasn't enough to help 44-year-old Michael Rayment.
He was driving his cab directly in the path of Harrison's car around 3am that morning, when the would-be designated driver's Mercedes Benz smashed into it, killing the cabbie and seriously injuring his four passengers.
Tests revealed that the 35-year-old's blood alcohol content was more than 200 - at least two times over the legal limit. He was convicted of impaired driving causing death and three counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm and awaited his sentence.
On Monday, it finally came. Harrison will spend 18 months in jail, another 18 on probation and will be unable to drive thanks to a two year licence suspension.
His lawyers tried to mitigate his actions at trial, telling the judge their client was going through a painful divorce and faced losing access to his children. That led to a spiral of alcohol abuse that helped put him in his car that night.
The Crown asked for a full 24 months behind bars and a two year licence suspension, while his advocates pleaded for a two year conditional sentence or less.
In the end, he wound up with a bit of both, with Mr. Justice Michael Tulloch noting "any other disposition would fail to show the severity of the offense and responsibility of the defendent."
Crown Attorney
Jim Coppolino agreed with his ruling.
"The judge did the right thing today, he sentenced an otherwise good citizen who drove home, made a bad decision, and sentenced him to real jail."