Update 4 pm:
A judge has handed down his sentence in a fatal drunk driving case in Vernon more than 2 years ago.
39 year old Lori Victoria Vance was given three years in prison after pleading guilty to impaired driving causing death and impaired driving causing bodily harm after a 2014 crash.
Vance was given a one year sentence for the impaired driving causing bodily harm which is served concurrently.
She was also given a 6 year driving ban by provincial court just Richard Hewson.
Photo: Brian Smith, father of crash victim Erin Smith (Pete McIntyre/Kiss FM News)
Vance had a blood-alcohol limit in excess of .20 and was speeding when her van went through a red light and hit a car, killing 33 year Erin Smith and injuring 31 year old Lindsay Hauck, both nurses who were on a coffee break at the time.
Vance — a mother of four children aged 6 to 18, who apologized in court — had no previous criminal or driving record.
“Miss Vance takes full responsibility for what happened. She makes no excuses for her actions,” said defence lawyer Wade Jensen.
“I can not apologize enough for all of the lives I have ruined, and there is no way to express how very sorry I am, “said Vance in a tearful apology read before the packed courtroom.
The Crown was calling for 2 to 4 years in prison, and the defence was seeking 2 years less a day followed by probation.
Smith’s father, Brian Smith of Kelowna, says the sentence was a joke.
“Three years, in BC, it is just atrocious what they have in the way of sentencing. Anywhere else, it would have been higher.”
Mr. Smith wanted Vance to serve at least five years behind bars, given the death, and the severe injuries to Hauck.
“She still has to continue on with her life. She will no longer be able to be a nurse. She’s got all sorts of problems ahead of her. Our life is destroyed without our daughter.”
Hauck suffered a fractured skull, a lacerated liver and a broken arm among other injuries.
Crown counsel Iain Currie estimated the van’s speed at between 74-98 km-h in the 50 km-h zone just after 1 am on Oct. 23, 2014.
The van went through the red light eastbound on 30th Avenue, hitting Smith’s car which was travelling northbound on Highway 97.
Staff at the pub where Vance had been drinking earlier that night estimated she consumed six pints of Guinness and six tequila shooters.
The pub’s staff tried to line her up with a ride home, or with a driving service, but Vance refused.
