THUNDER BAY -- An emotional Tyler Boily told the families of a local couple killed in a March 2014 highway crash he takes full responsibility for his actions.
The 29-year-old pleaded guilty on Friday to two counts of dangerous driving causing death for his role in the collision that claimed the lives of Michelle Parker and Daniel Brooks, both 28-years-old.
Ontario Court Justice Dino DiGiuseppe accepted the joint submission from Crown attorney Mary-Anne Mackett and defence lawyer Christopher Avery that Boily be sentenced to five years in federal prison, but with credit for time served he will spend an additional 40 months behind bars.
"I urge you to remember the victim impact statements urging you to attend counselling and rehabilitate yourself," DiGiuseppe told Boily while announcing the sentence, asking him to remember Parker and Brooks.
"Do not lose that resolve."
The couple had been out celebrating Parker's birthday and were heading home in the early morning hours of March 22, 2014 on the Thunder Bay Expressway when their PT Cruiser was struck by Boily's pickup truck.
The court heard Boily's truck was travelling in excess of 120 kilometres per hour when it struck a guardrail and veered across the road, hitting the couple's vehicle at more than 90 kilometres per hour.
Brooks was pronounced dead on the scene and Parker was taken to hospital where she died. Boily suffered non-life threatening injuries.
The OPP investigation determined neither vehicle had mechanical defects and road conditions were not a factor.
Urine and blood testing at hospital revealed undisclosed amounts of cocaine and marijuana in Boily's system. A subsequent search of the vehicle resulted in the seizure of small quantities of cocaine and marijuana.
Boily was also originally charged with impaired driving causing death and criminal negligence causing death. Both of those were withdrawn as a result of the plea.
Victim impact statements written by numerous family members and friends were presented to the court.
Parker and Brooks were described as childhood friends and soul mates, excitedly planning a 2016 wedding. They were also looking forward to one day becoming parents.
Brooks, who would have turned 29 a month after the crash, enjoyed a career working with children with the Thunder Bay Aboriginal Head Start program.
Both of his parents, Terry and Linda Brooks, who adopted him after more than a decade of unsuccessfully trying to have children, read their statements aloud.
They spoke about the impact of the loss, particularly on holidays and Mothers' Day and Fathers' Day which have been forever changed. He spoke of "no more firsts" and no grandchildren, while she described the past year as a "nightmare" with "no goodbyes" and "endless sleepless nights."
Parker was described as being a pillar in her family, helping care for her mother following her father's death just a few years prior. Her mother has since been diagnosed with depressive disorders due to unresolved grief from her husband's death, further enhanced by the death of her daughter and future son-in-law.
During their statements many of the family members implored Boily to turn his life around and become a productive citizen.
Despite expressing hope he would improve himself, the family members could not forgive him for his actions and choices.
"I will never forgive (him) for what he did to my family," Terry Brooks said.
Boily's mother provided a statement to the court, which brought him to tears.
Boily will serve his sentence at the Kwikwexwelhp Healing Village, a minimum security federal institution in British Columbia for First Nations men.
He will also be subject to a 10-year driving ban and a 10-year weapons ban upon his release.
