Latest / INSIGHT TODAY / Woman sentenced to house arrest after dog attack killed 11-year-old boy

Transcript

Woman sentenced to house arrest after dog attack killed 11-year-old boy · INSIGHT TODAY

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Two years after a boy was killed in a dog attack,
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: the owner of those dogs has been handed a conditional
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: sentence order of two years less a day. Crystal Jean
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: McDonald was found guilty of criminal negligence causing death in May.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: That's after 11-year-old Cash Grist was killed at her home
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: when her two Cane Corso dogs attacked him back in
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: April of 2024. McDonald's conditions include serving her sentence at
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: her home in British Columbia where she moved to after
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: the incident. She's also prohibited from owning a dog for
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: life and has to serve 200 hours of community service.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: McDonald and her lawyer have applied for an appeal of
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: her conviction, but not of her sentence. This raises a
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: lot of issues, the sentencing, even being convicted of this crime.
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: So we want to get some analysis from Balfour Durr,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: a criminal defense lawyer, former Crown prosecutor. Balfour, thank you
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: very much for joining us. The Crown, as you know,
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: in this case was calling for a pretty stiff sentence,
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: five-year sentence in prison. Are you surprised with the two
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: years of house arrest?
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: Not surprised, although I have to say that it probably
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: was a very close call. considering the circumstances, considering how
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: the death occurred, which was very serious. On the other hand,
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: you had a 46-year-old woman with no criminal record, and
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: probably most importantly, weighing in her favor on this, would
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: have been the fact that it was a crime of negligence,
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: as opposed to most crimes in the criminal code, which
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: are crimes of intention. That is, a person's means to
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: do something, pull the trigger on a gun, wipe the
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: bad check knowing there's no money in the account. Those
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: are all crimes of intention. This was a crime of negligence,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: that is the absence of thinking about something.
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: There was history in this case, evidence that she knew
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: her dogs were potentially... dangerous they had, as I understand it,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: attacked her at one point. They had killed a couple
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: of pets. She had said to the father of the boy,
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I believe that the boy shouldn't be in there alone
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: with these dogs. Just as a general legal principle, how
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: do you feel, how do you think we should feel
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: about the owner of dogs like this being subject to
• 2:23
  Speaker 1: a criminal conviction?
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: Oh, I don't have an issue with it. You know,
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: to me, it's the conviction or the finding of guilt
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: for the negligence charge. I see how that is made
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: out in law in this case. And also bearing in
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: mind that the judge didn't believe some of what the
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: accused was saying as part of her defense. But in
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: this case, the dogs are almost like a weapon. If
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: there were a loaded gun in the house and precautions
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: weren't taken, and a child somehow accesses it and there's
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: an unfortunate accident that follows, we would all say, well, yeah,
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: that's criminal negligence. And here, these dogs are very dangerous.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: They're big, powerful dogs. It's not like a little lap dog.
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: They're dangerous. And so a person has to take extra
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: care in relation to those animals. So the fact that
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: there's a criminal conviction... bits within the criminal code as
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: far as I'm concerned.
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: Cash's father testified in court that McDonald, the woman who
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: was convicted here, loved his son and shouldn't go to prison.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Do you think that kind of plea sways a judge?
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: Well, I don't know if I'd say sways the judge,
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: but I certainly would agree that it factors into a
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: judge's thinking that as to whether they put someone in
• 3:59
  Speaker 2: jail or don't put someone in jail. Sentencing is very
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: difficult at the best of times, and especially when you
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: get cases like this, as I said, a crime of negligence,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: which means the person doesn't really mean to cause harm.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: It happens because they weren't thinking, they were not careful.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: It's a person with the accused with no record, who's
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: lived 46 years of her life without transgression to law.
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: On the other hand, it's a very serious charge. How
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: it occurred would have been horrific. And so, you know,
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: things like what the parents or parents think should happen
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: as punishment, you know, it's just one of the things
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: that goes into the mix. And with some judges, it
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: may be very important. Other judges may give it less importance,
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: but it certainly is something that has to be considered
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: by the judge.
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: You know, it's interesting talking to you about this because
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: you've seen these cases from both the prosecutor and the
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: defense side, and you've also been in court a lot.
• 5:02
  Speaker 1: And so let me ask you, and you kind of
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: touched on this before, the judge described McDonald as evasive
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: and defensive whenever her actions were questioned. You know, we
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: won't know what's in the judge's mind, but do you
• 5:14
  Speaker 1: think that could have had an impact on how he
• 5:17
  Speaker 1: decided this case?
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: Well, it.
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: It would have likely, in fact, I expect it did
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: have an influence on the guilty or not guilty verdict.
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: That I'm sure of if an accused person is not credible.
• 5:35
  Speaker 2: And that's really different ways of saying they're not credible,
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: being evasive, not projecting blame on other people. It doesn't,
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: you know, the truthful witness doesn't usually come across that way.
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: So it would have gone into, I'm sure, the finding
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: of guilt. But this judge, Justice Macklin's very experienced judge.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: And to his credit, he no doubt eliminated that part
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: from the sentencing part. He said, you know, I may
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: not have found her credible, but that doesn't mean I'm
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: going to punish her for that. You know, I have
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: to look at this differently now that it's sentencing. And so,
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: you know, as I say, though, it was probably pretty
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: close to the line for this lady.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: It's always nice to have your legal perspective on complex
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: issues like this, Balfour. Balfour Durer, a former Crown prosecutor
• 6:30
  Speaker 1: and defense lawyer. Thank you.
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: You're very welcome, Ian.