The judge who sentenced Const. Sarah Beckett’s killer to four years in prison Friday said he recognizes the punishment will seem inadequate to many members of the community.
“There is no sentence I could impose which would bring Sarah Beckett back to life,” provincial court Judge Ronald Lamperson said Friday.
The community rightly expresses outrage when victims are killed or injured by drunk drivers, but a sentence imposed by a court cannot be based upon vengeance, said Lamperson, explaining that he was guided by sentences imposed in past cases of impaired driving causing death in B.C.
“This was one of the most difficult decisions I’ve ever had to make.”
As Kenneth Jacob Fenton was led away in handcuffs to begin his four-year sentence for impaired driving causing the death of Beckett, her husband Brad Aschenbrenner pulled four trophies of a horse’s ass out of a plastic bag and handed them to the defence lawyers and the Crown prosecutors. The inscription on the trophies for the Crown read “Participation Award: I failed Sarah Beckett.” The trophies for the defence denigrated their role as well.
It was the final, horrible moment of the sentencing hearing that began with Beckett’s family ignoring the court sheriff and refusing to move to allow Fenton’s parents to sit in the public gallery. The judge gave Fenton’s parents permission to sit in chairs at the front of the courtroom just behind the lawyers.
Aschenbrenner seemed overwhelmed, even panicky at times, crying and clenching his hands. Fenton stared impassively ahead, hands in his lap, a muscle twitching nervously in his cheek.
Lamperson delivered his decision, recounting the moments leading up to the death of Beckett, a 32-year-old mother of five- and two-year-old boys. She was killed when her marked police car was struck broadside at Goldstream Avenue at Peatt Road at 3:27 a.m. on April 5, 2016.
Beckett was the first female B.C. police officer to die on duty, and the first Vancouver Island officer killed while on duty since 1991.
Fenton was driving drunk — the blood sample drawn at Victoria General Hospital was more than 3.5 times the legal limit — when his 1996 Dodge pickup was spotted by an RCMP corporal who noticed the truck had no tail lights showing, according to a statement of facts agreed to by the defence and prosecution. The officer flipped on his red-and-blue lights but not the siren as he followed Fenton southbound on Peatt as it approached Goldstream.
Fenton accelerated as Peatt opened into a straightaway. When Fenton noticed the police lights in his rear-view mirror, he took his eyes off the intersection ahead, where the traffic light was showing red. He was doing somewhere between 76 and 90 kilometres an hour in a 50 km/h zone, braking only a split second before hitting Beckett’s eastbound car.
In determining the sentence, Lamperson found it an aggravating factor that Beckett was an on-duty police officer. Other aggravating factors included the high level of Fenton’s impairment, his speed at the time of the collision, his Motor Vehicle Act record, which includes alcohol-related convictions and driving prohibitions, the fact that he took no steps to address his alcohol problem, his denial that hehad been drinking, suggesting that Beckett was responsible for the accident, and the impact on the Beckett family.
Lamperson found Fenton’s early guilty plea, his relative youth, his absence of a criminal record and his genuine remorse to be mitigating factors. Fenton has a history of steady employment and is expected to have employment when he is released from prison. He also has the support of his family and friends which will assist him in his rehabilitation, the judge said.
Lamperson gave Fenton a three-year concurrent sentence on the charge of dangerous driving causing death. He imposed a five-year driving prohibition, effective upon Fenton’s release from prison. The Crown stayed the charge of flight from a police officer.
Outside court, Const. Alex Bérubé commented on behalf of the West Shore detachment where Beckett worked, thanking the investigators from Island District RCMP and Saanich, Victoria and Oak Bay police, and the community for their outpouring of support.
“It’s very hard for the family, obviously, as you can tell. We’re all human beings, even the police force. It’s a hard day. There’s no question about it,” Bérubé said.
“This is a reminder that impaired driving has devastating consequences. There are no messages that are going to be strong enough. I can guarantee there will still be impaired drivers out there and we’ll be there to catch them.”
Defence lawyer Dale Marshall said the sentence might be the first step in allowing the families, torn apart by this tragedy, to heal.
Asked about the outrage displayed by Beckett’s family over the four-year sentence, Criminal Justice Branch spokeswoman Alisia Adams said Crown has met with the family, heard their concerns and explained how they came to the conclusions they did.
“In this case, it’s clear the family, friends and colleagues of Const. Beckett have experienced a profound loss. We recognize their pain,” Adams said.
“But in approaching our task as Crown counsel, we have to look objectively and impartially at what the evidence can prove beyond a reasonable doubt and consider the law as it has developed in this province and apply our policy in a consistent way.”
Fenton has received one of the stiffest sentences on record in B.C. for an offender with no previous criminal record convicted of impaired driving causing death.
