Noma Bar for Reader’s Digest
The Verdict
Yes. The jury unanimously ruled that Emma Czornobaj was guilty of criminal negligence and dangerous driving causing death. At her sentencing in December 2014, Justice Éliane Perreault explained, “She knowingly engaged in risk taking that she should have foreseen would put other drivers’ lives in danger.” Czornobaj was sentenced to 90 days in jail plus three years’ probation, including 240 hours of community service. She also wouldn’t be allowed to drive for ten years. She appealed the sentences, arguing that losing her license for that long was extreme, especially when the Highway Safety Code requires only a three-year ban for “causing death by criminal negligence and dangerous driving.” In June 2017, seven years after the crash, the three-judge panel on the appeals court disagreed, upholding her conviction and ruling that the severe driving ban compensated for her “exceptionally lenient” jail time given her criminal convictions. As Chassé told reporters after the initial trial, “What we hope is that a clear message is sent to society that we do not stop on the highway for animals. It’s not worth it.”
