Nearly two decades ago, Ted Gross was sentenced to three-and-a-half years behind bars for killing a 21-year-old woman when he was driving drunk.
The Regina man admits that he doesn’t think the sentence was long enough.
“I’ve had people say the time I received in prison isn’t long enough, and I’m the first to agree,” Gross told CTV’s Canada AM on Wednesday.
Since his release from prison, Gross is sharing his experience to discourage others from getting behind the wheel after drinking.
“You are saddled with a lifetime of guilt, a lifetime of remorse, and that’s part of the consequences people don’t think about,” he said.
The issues of sentencingin cases of drunk driving deaths is in the spotlight following two high-profile Canadian cases.
On Tuesday, 24-year-old Jesse Taylor of Moose Jaw, Sask. was sentenced to four years in prison after pleading guilty to driving drunk, causing the deaths of three of his friends. A fourth man who was also in the car spent months in a coma.
Late last month, Marco Muzzo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his role in a Vaughan, Ont. crash that killed three siblings and their grandfather. The 29-year-old had pleaded guilty to four counts of impaired driving causing death.
Gross said it’s time for the government to re-examine the length of sentences handed out in drunk driving cases and perhaps “close the gap” when it comes to sentences in cases that hold a number of similarities.
“I got three-and-a-half years, and I’ve always said, is three-and-a-half years for a life fair? I don’t agree,” he said.
