Court boosts Native woman's punishment for drunken driving

Friday, February 18, 2011  

A Native woman who pleaded guilty to charges of impaired driving causing and driving without a license deserves a harsher punishment for her crime, the Alberta Court of Appeal ruled on Thursday.

Kayla Ann Stimson, a member of the Siksika First Nation, lost control of a vehicle while driving on the reserve after a night of drinking. Terrilyn Delaney, 18, was killed in the accident.

Judge Eugene Creighton, a member of the Blood Tribe and one of only three Native judges in the province, sentenced Stimson to 90 days in jail plus multiple years of probation. He cited a precedent from the Supreme Court of Canada that allows judges to consider the Native background of an offender.

But the Alberta Court of Appeal said the Gladue decision was improperly applied in the case. The court sentenced Simson to two years less a day.

Get the Story:
Drunk driving sentence hiked (The Calgary Herald 2/18)

Alberta Court of Appeal Decision:
R v. Stimson (February 17, 2011)