Reaction has been swift and supportive of the 10-year sentence Marco Muzzo got after killing a grandfather and three children in a drunk driving crash north of Toronto last September.
The 29-year-old man, who is an heir to an Ontario construction dynasty, had pleaded guilty last month to four counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm in a crash near Kleinburg.
Muzzo’s SUV hit a van driven by Gary Neville, 65, who was driving his grandchildren: nine-year-old Daniel Neville-Lake, his five-year-old brother Harrison and their two-year-old sister Milly.
“Anyone who thinks Marco #Muzzo’s sentence is harsh (or adequate) baffles me. He’s an idiot who drove intoxicated and killed 4 people,” @danakolodzey tweeted.
“As a father, the sentencing of Marco #Muzzo frankly makes me sick. He should serve a life sentence for every life he took. What a disgrace,” @gregmarkey posted.
At the time, Muzzo had just returned from his bachelor party in Florida on a private plane and picked up his car at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.
Breathalyzer tests revealed he had between two and three times the legal amount of alcohol in his blood.
Muzzo’s defence lawyers had argued for an eight-year sentence, with credit for the four months he has already spent in custody. The Crown pushed for a sentence between 10 and 12 years. The victims’ family didn’t speak after the sentencing. But the children’s mother Jennifer Neville-Lake stated in her victim impact statement read in court last month, “I don’t have anyone left to call me mom. Not one left. You killed all my babies.”
According to court documents, Muzzo will serve nine years and four months with credit to the eight months he’s had in custody. The court also imposed a driving ban, which begins when he’s released from custody.
Prison as a deterrent?
Those reacting on social media were calling for an even longer sentence.
“Any sentence in the #marcomuzzo trial won’t be enough to cover the pain the family of the victims are experiencing. :(,” tweeted @kurlykew.
Toronto criminal lawyer Edward Prutschi says the public may “feel better if we stick people in jail but that won’t make you safer.”
Prutschi told Yahoo Canada News that the sentence is probably the longest ever for a first-time drunk driving offender.
“It’s a fair sentence and in law, there just isn’t any basis for it to go higher, though I understand the outrage,” he noted. “The law isn’t about acknowledging loss, it’s about punishing people for their wrongs, rehabilitating them and deterring others.”
On the last point, Prutschi added that studies have shown the length of a sentence is not a deterrence.
“You can’t prevent thoughtlessness,” he said. “No one who drinks and gets behind a wheel ever thinks they are going to plough into a van and kill four people.”
The criminal lawyer said when it comes to curtailing incidents of drunk driving, policing is the key. And that’s something MADD Canada is also proposing.
“We need federal legislation changed so police can demand a breath test without needing reasonable grounds,” MADD Canada’s Carolyn Swinson told Yahoo Canada News.
Reasonable grounds means police have to suspect the person is drinking i.e., slurred speech, smell of alcohol, stumbling around or bloodshot eyes.
“In Australia, police will pull over 20 cars and submit all the drivers to a breathalyzer test.”
MADD had gotten the Conservative government of Stephen Harper to introduce a bill permitting police to administer the test on demand but when the election was called last year, it died on the order paper.
Now, Conservative MP Steven Blaney has re-introduced it but as a private member’s bill, which means it might be harder to pass.
“We are hoping that incidents such as this one and the one where a Saskatchewan family of four was killed [in January] will spur this government to get the legislation through,” said Swinson, who also lauded the judge for “doing a good job.”
“We need to change people’s perceptions that their chances of getting caught are high.”
Civil lawsuit possible
In her ruling, Superior Court justice Michelle Fuerst said that “in one fell swoop, Mr. Muzzo decimated an entire generation of the Neville-Lake family.”
For the parents of the children, Prutschi says the potential for a civil lawsuit is “high.”
“There’s a guilty plea already and it’s an open and shut case. And I don’t mean to be crass but it’s now just putting a dollar value on the lives lost.”
In terms of monetary reward, it is unlikely the family would get a large sum said Prutschi since one would have to determine how much money the children might have made if they got to adulthood.
“Just because the dollar value may be lower than expected doesn’t mean it’s not a tragedy,” he explained. “If the children had been injured and couldn’t work, then there would have been a better chance of getting a larger amount due to medical bills and loss of income. Because they are dead, it’s harder to figure out what those numbers would be.”
Muzzo is heir to a family construction dynasty. He had a steady job in the family business and was engaged to Taryn Hampton, who has supported him since the crash.
The family owns Marel Contractors, based in Vaughan, which operates in Toronto, southwestern Ontario, Ottawa and Calgary.
The family also has a stake in Pemberton Group, one of Toronto’s biggest development companies, which has been in operation since 1965. Pemberton builds condominiums and commercial sites across the Greater Toronto Area.
The companies were founded by Muzzo’s late grandfather whose estate was worth nearly $1.8 billion, according to Canadian Business magazine’s annual ranking of the country’s richest people in 2015.