Woman facing life in prison for stopping for ducks

[Deleted]

Dude 2 people died, one of them was a teenage girl.

The driver was 20 over the limit and didn't pay attention, the wife of the people whom died also doesn't blame her.

She fucked up with her idiocy, but this is not deserving of a life sentence.

[The One Percent]

Hm, some consequences are in order for being stupid, but life in prison with no criminal intent is overboard.

[Tradewind]

Doubt she'll get maximum sentences, it's just there's no law to cover this kind of incident really. The judge will determine it in August.

That said, stopping on a highway in the left lane without any hazards or anything is monumentally fucking stupid and two people died as a result. That USA Today article over-estimates the speeds as well. Court says they were doing about 110kph, limit on A30 is 100kph.

[Deleted]

All parties were being fucking stupid. Carelessness on both sides.

She does not deserve a life sentence.

[chrisberb]

Here in at least NJ, we have signs in some places for "duck/goose crossing". If I stopped because geese were crossing the road, and someone rear-ended me, it would be my fault?
This case against her seems a bit much..yes she did something stupid, but potentially facing Life in Prison?? That's too much

[Deleted]

I actually have to question her defense, the charges are completely wrong; She's being charged with criminal negligence despite no criminal intent behind it.

Did the defense just bend over and hope sympathy would provide a defense?

[Searsha]

How is she facing life in prison? She didn't have intent to harm, so she couldn't have been convicted of murder. Negligent manslaughter charges can serve a lifetime in Canada...?

[Deleted]

How is she facing life in prison? She didn't have intent to harm, so she couldn't have been convicted of murder. Manslaughter charges can serve a lifetime in Canada...?

The jury was unanimous in convicting the 25-year-old on two counts of criminal negligence causing death, a charge that carries a maximum life sentence, and two counts of dangerous driving causing death, which comes with a maximum of 14 years in jail.

TheMontreal Gazettenotes that the case is an unusual one, in that Czornobaj faces a life sentence though there was no criminal intent tied to her actions.

From the OP

[Deleted]

Did the ducks survive?

[Deleted]

The MMOC Warriors of Justice baffle me sometimes.

[Sindile]

While she should be getting life in prison, she should get some time in prison under manslaughter charges.

[teddytous]

She won't see significant jail time imo, but we will see.

"•Andre Roy, 50, who was traveling with his 16-year-old daughter, Jessie, on his Harley-Davidson, was driving an estimated 70 mph to 80 mph in a roughly 60 mph zone." - this fact seems fishy; have a feeling someone is using disingenuous metric to imperial conversion to cause scandal in the case.

"•She was willing in April to plead guilty in the trial, her lawyer Marc Labelle said, but the prosecution refused to offer her a plea bargain that would enable her to avoid jail time." - I'd be curious as to what the plea was; if she refused to accept any jail time then I'd say tough for her. Her actions caused the death of 2 people; she should serve some jail time.

"•Czornobaj had stopped her car in the left lane of a provincial highway after spotting roughly seven ducklings on the median"
"•She said Czornobaj’s car was stopped at the leftmost lane of the highway and that its hazard lights were not on."
Ducks are not people; I realize a lot of people care deeply for animals, as do I. But animals are not people, they're lives do not share the same value as people, and it is irresponsible and wrong to risk the lives on complete strangers to save ducklings.

My 2 cents.

[Deleted]

Way to go, OP, nice loaded thread title, just beautiful.
"'facing life in prison for stopping for ducks"? I knew that she caused a traffic accident and people died before even clicking on the thread.

[BugNuggets]

Title is sensational. She hasn't been sentenced, life is just the maximum she faces which considering all the facts, and that the victims wife appears to not blame her, I would be very surprised if she got more than a few years.

[Fencers]

No criminal intent. The woman's crime is causing an accident via incompetence in following safety procedures.

Very unfortunate.

[Omnoms]

To be fair, traffic usually slows to a crawl when say, a dog gets loose on the highway anyways, so the motorcycle driver should have 1) not sped and 2) paid attention.

A dog can cause a bit more structural damage to a car/has more sentimental value than say, a duck. Ducks are(rarely) viewed as a family member. While I hate the entire concept of pets, that's kinda apples and oranges.

And yes, speeding is stupid regardless, but had she not stopped the speeding might not have been the issue. As has been said, she was in the LEFT lane, the speeding lane.

[skatblast]

A) She stopped in the SPEEDING lane.

B) SHE STOPPED FOR F*** DUCKS. COMPLETELY disregarding everyone around her.

This. Doesn't deserves life in prison but definitely deserves to go to prison.

[Temp name]

I'd say involuntary manslaughter. She didn't stop with the intent of causing an accident, but she did cause the deaths.

[matt4pack]

What makes this crazy is that the motorcyclists were in danger from the ducks anyway which they might have hit or swerved to miss and gotten themselves killed anyway.

So what the women was doing was actually helping them if they would have been following the law and not tailgating.

[Deleted]

Way to go, OP, nice loaded thread title, just beautiful.
"'facing life in prison for stopping for ducks"? I knew that she caused a traffic accident and people died before even clicking on the thread.

I sure hope you don't think you're the only one that could guess. I'm pretty sure almost all of us knew what this thread would be before we even opened it.