Tyson David Tyler Brightnose was sentenced to four-and-half years in prison in Thompson provincial court March 7 for causing the head-on collision that killed 24-year-old Missinippi Airways pilot Simon Julien just north of the city on Jan. 21, 2010.
Brightnose, now 21, pleaded guilty to five charges, including impaired driving causing death, impaired driving causing bodily harm, public mischief, breach of probation and breach of recognizance. He received 54 months for impaired driving causing death, two years for impaired driving causing bodily harm and 90 days each for the other three convictions. The sentences are to be served concurrently. With double credit for the 13-and-a-half months he has spent in custody since the accident, Brightnose will serve 27 months. He is also prohibited from driving for six years.
"I find in this particular case that the moral blameworthiness of Tyson Brightnose for what happened on Jan. 21, 2010 is extremely high," said Judge Robert M. Heinrichs, a Winnipeg judge who heard this case because Brightnose's mother is Thompson Judicial Justice of the Peace Zelda Kitchekeesik. "It was the night and morning of one bad decision after another. This was not a momentary decision. It was a number of steps along the way."
Julien was killed in a head-on collision about two kilometres north of Thompson at about 7 a.m. on Jan. 21. He was pronounced dead at the scene, and four occupants of the other vehicle sustained various non life-threatening injuries, police said at the time.
Brightnose, then 19, and one of his passengers, who cannot be named under the terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act because he was under 18 at the time of the incident, initially tried to mislead police by claiming that the youth, and not Brightnose, was behind the wheel at the time of the accident. That led to charges of public mischief against both Brightnose and the youth.
Heinrichs said this indicated a lack of remorse on the part of Brightnose.
"Initially, at least, there was no remorse for what he had done," said the judge. "I'm told today it was only after DNA evidence of the driver's side airbag showed that Tyson Brightnose had been occupying the seat, the driver's seat, at the time of the accident, it was only after that that he came to court to say he was pleading guilty."
Normand Julien, Simon's father read a victim impact statement to the court prior to the sentencing.
"On Jan. 21, 2010, on his way to work, this crash has shattered a life, a family, a dream, a career, a love story," said Normand Julien. "Since that day we live in a prison of anger, injustice and great sorrow. The loss of Simon took away our joy of living. Losing a child is without a doubt the worst ordeal to get through for parents."
Crown attorney Brian Wilford noted that there were several aggravating circumstances as he argued for a sentence in the high end of a three to five-year range.
"He was on not one but two court orders requiring that he abstain from the consumption of alcohol," said Wilford, noting that Mark Gibbs, who picked up his daughter, who had been a passenger in Brightnose's Jeep, after the vehicle got stuck in the ditch north of Thompson, described Brightnose as "loaded" in a statement to police.
Another statement, by Chris Boyd, reported that he had been forced to swerve off the road to avoid a car coming at him in the wrong lane just moments before the collision that claimed Julien's life. Boyd was not able to positively identify the vehicle that nearly hit him as the one driven by Brightnose.
Accident experts surmised that Julien moved into the left lane to avoid the oncoming vehicle at the same time that Brightnose returned to the proper lane.
Gibbs, who had been pursuing Brightnose's Jeep in an effort to stop him or slow him down, arrived on the scene just after the accident.
"He was telling the other kid to say he was driving," Gibbs said in his statement, describing Brightnose.
Gerri Wiebe, Brightnose's lawyer, said that while she wasn't disputing the fact that her client was intoxicated, the witness statements describing Brightnose's degree of intoxication should not be given great weight because they didn't indicate the foundation for those beliefs. She argued that a sentence of three years would be appropriate.
"He made the mistaken conclusion ... that he would be OK to drive," said Wiebe, adding that Brightnose now realizes the effect alcohol has on him. "He has recognized that every time he gets into trouble it's because he's been drinking."
Court heard that breathalyzer tests administered to Brightnose about three hours after the collision returned readings of 120 and 110 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit for drivers is 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres.
Brightnose read a statement in court prior to Heinrich's pronouncing his sentence.
"I take full responsibility for what I've done," said Brightnose. "I realize I put a lot of people in danger that morning. I never intended on hurting anybody. I'm not a bad person, I just made bad choices."
