BOYLE – A 32-year-old Fort McMurray man who crashed his pickup truck while driving with an open bottle of vodka beside him will be spending the next four months in jail, as well as paying a $567 ticket for a separate offence.
In Boyle Court of Justice Nov. 14, Jordan Daniel Marshall, 32, pleaded guilty to operating a motor vehicle while over the legal limit of 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood and to careless driving as part of a joint submission between Crown prosecutor Robynne Thompson and defence lawyer Cory Wilson.
As part of the submission, additional charges for dangerous operation and failure to comply with a probation order were withdrawn, as well as a ticket for driving while unauthorized.
Justice Thomas Achtymichuk accepted the joint submission. He said while there were multiple aggravating factors, including the collision and a related criminal record, the early guilty plea and rehab Marshall had completed were significantly mitigating.
“Society and communities are better off if you can successfully address addictions, rather than just adding a longer jail sentence,” said Justice Achtymichuk. “This is the mandatory minimum sentence, and with all those aggravating factors, you don’t usually get the mandatory minimum. What satisfies the public interest test is that you have been trying to address what seems to be a battle with alcoholism.”
Wilson said his client had been employed as a power engineer until recently, when he moved to Kelowna to live with his parents while he battled a diagnosed alcohol addiction disorder.
“He’s had a number of stints in in-treatment rehabilitation, including a nine-week program in Victoria. Unfortunately, after a significant period of time he relapsed, at which point he went back to the same treatment facility for a six-week program,” said Wilson.
Wilson. “When he relapses, he gets behind the wheel of a vehicle, and that’s a more significant problem — Marshall understands, as does the court that it isn’t the driver that gets killed, it’s the family in the minivan. He understands that his driving program while intoxicated, when he gets behind the wheel, has serious consequences.”
The facts
Thompson told court on May 5, 2023, a Boyle RCMP constable responded to a call for service regarding an erratic driver on Highway 63 in Boyle. While attempting to locate the vehicle, multiple additional calls were reported stating a white truck was driving south on Highway 63, repeatedly entering the ditch and nearly causing several collisions.
The constable located the suspect vehicle after it had been involved in a single-vehicle collision in the treeline off the highway. The constable located a single man in the driver seat, who identified himself as Marshall. Thompson said Marshall had a strong odor of liquor on his breath, as well as slurred speech, bloodshot eyes, and the constable saw an open bottle of Absolut Vodka in the cupholder of the vehicle.
Police checks on Marshall revealed he had two previous convictions for impaired driving, was on a suspended licence, and had a probationary condition to abstain from alcohol consumption.
Witnesses provided statements on Marshall’s driving behavior before the collision. While at the Boyle RCMP station, Marshall provided two breath samples which both came back at .23 mg per cent.
Thompson also told court on Feb. 22, 2023, Marshall was driving in Lac La Biche County, where he was speeding and repeatedly driving across the middle lane of the highway, as well as driving in and out of the ditch before getting stuck.
