Driver sentenced to 6 years after deadly crash in stolen truck
Crash killed Keith Morley, a 52-year-old man from Turner Valley
Derek Grouette will spend six years in prison after pleading guilty to a deadly Calgary crash in a stolen truck.
Early on the morning of Feb. 18, Grouette was driving a truck heading south in the northbound lanes of 37 Street S.W. when it collided with another vehicle.
The crash killed Keith Morley, 52, of Turner Valley, who was driving to work on his first day of being a certified Red Seal carpenter.
Outside court Friday, siblings described Morley as a caring man who was very forgiving.
"Hopefully [Grouette] will take this time and straighten out his life. He made a promise to us that he would. Because I think he at least owed my brother this much for all the harm and chaos he caused," said Bruce Morley.
The six-year sentence was a joint recommendation by Crown and defence lawyers.
Passengers also guilty
Two passengers in the truck were previously convicted.
In May, Janelle Umpherville, 26, pleaded guilty to a number of charges connected to Morley's death — including theft and being in a stolen vehicle.
The other passenger, the underage son of a Calgary police officer, pleaded guilty in June to being a passenger in the back seat during a drive in a stolen vehicle — more commonly known as joyriding.
He was sentenced to one year probation. The boy cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, as he was 17 years old at the time of the crash.
At Umpherville's trial, the court heard that the trio were driving around in a stolen truck, stealing other items — including an ATV — that they planned to sell to fuel their meth habits.
When they were back on the Tsuut'ina Nation — where the trio planned to store those items — police tried to pull over the truck, but they fled.
After crossing the Fish Creek Bridge, the driver swerved into the oncoming lane, hitting Keith Morley's truck head-on. Morley died at the scene.
With files from Meghan Grant