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Originally Posted by fredr123
Dude had to sit through most of a day of people reading their victim impact statements. That, coupled with defence and the Crown both making their arguments today is quite a bit to digest. To think a sentence could be handed down from the bench or in a day or so is a tall order.
The sentencing decision will be written (natch) and pretty substantial. It will have to address all of the arguments raised by the defence and the Crown and incorporate into it relevant previous case law. The decision is going to have to be well-crafted because it's pretty likely the whole thing will be appealed. You and I would hate for the whole thing to be overturned because the higher court thought the trial judge missed something in his judgment.
A month to make a decision isn't THAT bad...
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Was going to ask if the guy at least gets to focus on it during that time, but according to this:
Quote:
Originally Posted by fredr123
The Honourable Judge B. R. Fraser has other matters to attend to outside of simply working on the Tschetter sentencing. He may have a few days here and there to work on the sentencing decision exclusively but he is probably also hearing docket days and other trials between now and September. Those other matters require him to spend time, effort and thought that could otherwise be used to render the Tschetter sentence quicker.
You also have to consider that there will be a good deal of precedential value to this decision. As defence counsel have suggested, manslaughter charges are rare to non-existent for vehicle-related deaths in Canada. This will be among the first (and definitely worst) on the books in Canada. The Crown will look to this case as a new high-water mark for deaths caused by reckless/dangerous/drunk drivers and will seek to rely on it to obtain tougher sentences for people who kill others with their car. It will serve all in the legal community well for Judge Fraser to get this right.
To compare this apple to an orange, the Supreme Court in 2008 averaged about 4 months between the time an appeal was heard and the day judgment was released: http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/stat/html/cat5-eng.asp |
He doesn't. Being a judge must be tough work. Trying to remember the details of many cases that overlap in various ways, having to write those long documents detailing why the perp was sentenced to what...
My personal opinion is that he should be made an example of. The bottle in the hopper drastically tips the scales.