Several things can happen now that the courts have rejected a joint submission in a case of impaired driving causing death.

Rodney Constantine pleaded guilty to the charge, which stemmed from a crash on Empire Avenue in St. John’s in December, 2023, which claimed the life of Mark Squires, a passenger in the car.

Constantine pleaded guilty, but the judge rejected a joint submission from the defense and the Crown for a four-year sentence. He felt it was too lenient, and ordered the lawyers to go back to the drawing board.

Mike Murray, a retired Crown prosecutor, says the justice system expects judges to abide by such submissions, unless it is so out of whack that it would bring the system into disrepute.

He says the Crown and defense can now come up with a new proposal, do more research and present justification for the original proposal of four years, or change the guilty plea.

“But at the end of the day, if the judge doesn’t accept the joint submission, he’s supposed to give the accused a change to consider applying to withdraw the guilty plea. And sometimes the sentencing hearing just goes ahead, so there’s a variety of things that can happen if the joint proposal is not accepted,” says Murray.

The case resumes in about five weeks.