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There was a story that I heard this week that caused me some frustration, more than really anything else so I decided to share.

Daniel Dupuis, 37, was recently convicted of dangerous driving causing death and leaving the scene of an accident. The accident took place in Montreal’s east end in July 2005.

Dupuis came across a car full of teenagers at an intersection, and challenged the driver to a race.   The other driver, Frédéric Garneau, lost control of his car after racing Dupuis at speeds reaching 160 kilometres an hour.   His two passengers — Mélissa Lalonde-Émard, 16, and Annie Lachapelle, 18 — were thrown from the car and killed.

When the cops found Dupuis 9 months later, he was hiding in his closet.

The sentence which takes place in November could be anything from 3 -8 years.  Garneau got 3 years behind bars.  Dupuis’ defense lawyer is arguing for less because he was not the driver of the car where the teenagers were passengers.  Their defense is that he had less of an implication in their death.

Here are my frustrations about this matter.

Why did the court case take 4 years?  It seems clear cut to me.

This is not Dupuis’ first offence.  In fact, he has a long criminal record involving speeding, drunk driving, unpaid fines and ignoring driving bans.  He wasn’t even legally allowed to drive.

He has shown no lack of remorse or empathy for his involvement in the death of two teenagers.  In fact, upon hearing his multiple prior offences, Dupuis shook his head several times and smirked, leaning back in his chair in the prisoner’s dock.

One of the father’s of the victims said in a statement to CBC News, “To see the face of this guy, who killed my daughter, looking at you sometimes with a smile … it’s tough,”.

I believe that because of his previous and repeated offenses, coupled with his lack of remorse, he should get the maximum sentence.   It frustrates me to think that he might get anything less than 3 years.  I don’t even think 8 years is enough.  He was already banned from driving for speeding and drunk driving.  He clearly still has not learned his lesson and is a danger to society.