While sentencing him to six months in jail for impaired driving a judge urged a former Turner Valley man to stop drinking alcohol.
Wallace Edward Schad pled guilty to six charges in Okotoks Provincial Court on Friday, stemming from a 2005 incident in Beaverlodge and a 2006 collision in Turner Valley.
Judge J. Riley said Schad would stop drinking if he was truly sorry for his actions.
“You should still make up your mind Mr. Schad to never drink again,” he said.
Riley sentenced Schad to six months in jail, but with double credit for 28 days already spent in custody, Schad will spend 127 days behind bars.
Riley also sentenced Schad to a four-year driving ban, one year for the Beaverlodge incident and three years for the Turner Valley collision.
Schad pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing injury, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and failing to attend court for the Turner Valley incident. He pleaded guilty to impaired operation of a motor vehicle, failing to provide a breath sample and failing to appear in court on the Beaverlodge charges.
The Beaverlodge charges date from September 2005 when police found him sleeping in his vehicle and Schad refused to provide a breath sample. The Turner Valley charges stem from a March 2006 incident when Schad rear-ended a vehicle on Hell’s Half Acre bridge.
Schad also has two previous impaired driving convictions from 1997 and 1998.
Crown prosecutor Sarah Stewart asked for a jail term between six to nine months in length.
However, given time Schad had already spent in jail over the incidents, defense attorney Patrick Flynn argued a considerable financial penalty with a fine between $4,000 and $5,000 would be more appropriate.
The cases have taken several years to get to this point.
Schad didn’t show up for a 2006 court hearing in Okotoks regarding the Turner Valley incident and he did not attend a trial scheduled in 2007 in Grande Prairie for the Beaverlodge charges. Warrants were issued for his arrest and police were unable to find him.
Schad was eventually arrested in Saskatchewan in August 2010 after he had been living in Mexico for a number of years. He was freed on $3,000 bail in the fall and went to live with his mother in Weyburn, SK before going on to work in the oil patch in B.C. and Alberta.
Since being released on bail, Flynn said Schad has made numerous attempts to resolve the matter but he wasn’t successful because the Crown prosecutors were not in a position to do so.
Turner Valley residents Roxanne Walsh and Julie Walker were in a vehicle rear-ended by Schad near Turner Valley in March 2006.
Walsh said Schad should have to spend more then six months behind bars and have an opportunity to get counseling.
“I’m of the opinion that punishment doesn’t really solve anything, but I don’t see any encouragement for him to be accountable,” she said.
Walsh said her problem lays more with the justice system than Schad himself. She questioned why the Crown would have only asked for six to nine months.
“We condone drunk driving with these kinds of sentences,” said Walsh.
The collision has left her with lingering health problems to this day. She was unable to attend Friday’s court hearing because she was at a neurologist.
“I’m still impacted by the decision to drink and drive that night,” she said.
