No more jail time for Edmonton man involved in crash that killed a toddler

SCOC ruling for Richard Suter The man who crashed into a restaurant patio and killed a two-year-old, will not go back to jail. CTV Edmonton’s David Ewasuk reports.

The Supreme Court of Canada has ruled an Edmonton man who accidentally drove his SUV into a restaurant patio and killed a two-year-old boy should not serve more jail time.

In 2013, Richard Suter was behind the wheel when the SUV smashed into the patio and killed Geo Mounsef.

Suter pleaded guilty to refusing to provide a breath sample following the fatal accident and was sentenced to four months behind bars, but an appeal court raised that to 26 months.

His lawyer, Dino Bottos, appealed that decision to the highest court in the country and argued the sentence should be reduced back to four months.

Suter served more than 10 months before he was released on bail pending the appeal to the Supreme Court.

The high court lowered his sentence to time served and upheld a 30-month driving ban, saying “it would not be in the interests of justice to re-incarcerate Suter at this time – it would cause him undue hardship and serve no useful purpose.”

It found he refused to provide a breath sample because he received incorrect legal advice from a lawyer.

“That legal expert let him down. He gave him faulty, bad legal advice. Because the lawyer didn’t know the true law and told Mr. Suter not to blow,” Bottos said.

It also determined Suter mistakenly stepped on the gas pedal instead of hitting the brake, and the crash was caused by a non-impaired driving error.

Bottos said Suter was distracted because of an argument earlier with his wife. After the collision, people nearby attacked Suter and one person kicked him in the back of his head, and his lawyer argued that’s what caused him to look drunk.

“It is a perform storm of terrible coincidences. But really, Mr. Suter, a sober man went to jail for following bad legal advice, not because he was impaired,” Bottos said.

Following his conviction, Suter was kidnapped by a vigilante who sliced off his thumb with a set of pruning shears.

The convicted kidnapper was sentenced to 12 years.

The majority of the judges found Suter’s 26-month sentence was disproportionate given the mitigating factors.

Bottos said his client was relieved when the decision was released, adding the legal matter is now over, but he will continue to live with guilt and punish himself for killing Geo.

“It is a tortured existence of realizing what he did. And he will never get over that. He will, in a sense, never escape that punishment.”

The toddler’s mother shared on social media her outrage with the finding.