A Dartmouth man who killed his younger brother in a drunk-driving crash in October 2015 will be in “a prison of his own making for the rest of his life,” his lawyer says.
Lincoln Flemming MacLennan, 48, pleaded guilty last month to a charge of causing death by driving with a blood alcohol level above the legal limit of .08.
On Thursday, a judge handed MacLennan a 4.5-year prison sentence in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Halifax.
Justice Timothy Gabriel deducted 167 days from the sentence for remand credit, leaving MacLennan with just under four years to be served.
The judge also prohibited MacLennan from driving anywhere in Canada for 10 years. That suspension will be consecutive to a one-year driving prohibition already in place.
MacLennan was also ordered to
provide a DNA sample for a nationaldatabank. “This is a very sad day,” Gabriel said. “It’s a tragedy.
“Your brother is now dead. . . . I know you feel very badly and remorseful and, quite frankly, you should. That’s what happens when you keep making decisions that place others at risk. You do it enough and eventually something like this happens.”
The judge said courts must sentence offenders, “especially repeat offenders such as yourself,” in a manner that adequately reflects society’s denunciation of this type of conduct.
“Society isn’t going to tolerate this,” Gabriel said. “It isn’t going to stand by and watch its children or their parents be placed at risk or be killed by people who can’t be trusted to make proper decisions.
“You will be punished and you will be punished significantly. That message has to get out.”
MacLennan was driving a black Dodge Durango sport utility vehicle that crashed on Highway 7 in Head of Chezzetcook at about 2:30 p.m. on Oct. 25, 2015.
His brother John MacLennan, 40, was trapped inside the vehicle and had to be extracted by firefighters. He died from his injuries.
According to an agreed statement of facts, the westbound Durango passed a dump truck on a hill on a solid double line at a high rate of speed shortly before the crash.
A witness approaching from the opposite direction saw the Durango hit the side of the road, bounce into the air and flip. The vehicle continued to flip, coming to rest on its roof in the ditch on the other side of the road.
When an RCMP officer arrived at the scene, he found Lincoln MacLennan sitting on the ground next to the vehicle. John MacLennan was unresponsive in the passenger seat.
“I just killed my brother,” Lincoln MacLennan told the officer.
The officer saw a plastic bag of beer cans in the front seat of the vehicle and other cans scattered around the crash site. There were also two cases of beer in the ditch and four empty beer cans in the centre console.
MacLennan was unsteady on his feet as he was walked to the police car, where he failed a roadside breath test. He was taken to the Cole Harbour RCMP detachment and then to the Dartmouth General Hospital, where two samples of his blood were drawn.
A forensic toxicologist did an extrapolation of the blood sample results and determined that, at the time of the crash, MacLennan’s blood alcohol concentration was between 179 and 247 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. That’s two to three times the legal limit of 80 mg.
An RCMP collision analyst said data from the vehicle’s airbag control module showed the vehicle was travelling at a speed of 130 km/h two seconds before the bag deployed. The speed limit on that section of road is 70 km/h.
A medical examiner concluded that John MacLennan died from blunt-force injuries to his head and neck.
Crown attorney Melanie Perry said Lincoln MacLennan was driving without a licence and without insurance.
MacLennan had one previous conviction for impaired driving, in 1994. While awaiting trial on these matters, he was charged with drunk driving again last October. He pleaded guilty earlier this year to refusing the breathalyzer and was sentenced to 30 days in jail and given a one-year driving suspension.
“We need to do whatever we can do here to protect the public from Mr. MacLennan,” Perry told the court in asking for a five-year sentence.
Defence lawyer Colin Coady recommended a three-year sentence.
“Mr. MacLennan will have to live with the consequences of his decision to drive that day for the rest of his life,” Coady said. “I think that should be a significant factor in today’s proceedings.”
The men’s mother, Faith O’Hara, spoke of her loss in a victim impact statement.
“I feel as if this has taken two sons from me,” O’Hara said. “It has caused a rift with some family members that I’m not sure will ever be healed. My heart hurts every day for both my sons.”
O’Hara said she looks forward to the time when Lincoln will be reunited with his four children, who range in age from 17 to 24. “They miss him greatly, as I do,” she said.
Outside court, Coady said he wishes the best for his client and his family going forward.
Perry said she and her colleague, Katie Lovett, were pleased with the sentence.
“We want the public to look at this kind of sentence and know that if they drive while impaired and kill someone, there’s going to be significant repercussions,” Perry said.
She said it’s a “sheer miracle” that the Durango didn’t collide with any other vehicles.
