Joshua Burt has been sentenced to 39 months in prison for killing Brad Kerrivan while driving drunk.
The sentence was a joint submission by the Crown and defence, but that didn’t make it any easier for the victim’s family and friends to accept.
Judge James Walsh said he struggled with this sentence, noting it’s on the lower end of the scale for a crime that kills more people than any other in Canada.
But he also noted even the maximum of life in prison can’t undo what’s been done.
So with no previous criminal record before him, and a guilty plea that spared everyone a long, difficult trial, Walsh accepted what he called the quid pro quo, which comes with a five-year driving ban.
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He described Burt as a youthful, remorseful, first-time offender and a low risk to re-offend, adding Burt could’ve challenged evidence collected after the fact, but chose not to.
Burt, now 25, was two-and-half times over the legal limit when his F-150 slammed head-on into Kerrivan’s SUV in the early morning hours of April 3, 2022.
He was going the wrong way on Pitts Memorial Drive, just east of Ruth Avenue, when the two vehicles met—one doing the speed limit, the other, Burt’s truck, clocked at 129 km/h one second before impact.
The 42-year-old Kerrivan died at the scene while Burt was pulled from his truck moments before it burst into flames
Five victim impact statements spelled out the depth of grief for Kerrivan’s family.
One of them was from his sister, Jenine Kerrivan.
“His son, Colton, lost his father, I lost my brother, my mother lost her only son, and my grandmother lost her sunshine boy, and nothing will ever bring him back.”
She also made another plea that many continue to ignore.
“Don’t drink and drive. You will ruin lives. People have children, they have families, they have people that rely on them, they have friends, and if you get behind the wheel like that you could take away someone’s everything.”
