Judge delays sentencing for ex-cop guilty in woman's death
A Winnipeg judge has reserved his decision for six more weeks on the sentence for Derek Harveymordenzenk, a former city police officer who killed a woman in a 2005 car crash.
In a dealwith prosecutors, Harveymordenzenk— also known as Derek Harvey-Zenk— pleaded guilty in July to a single charge of dangerous driving causing death.
Crystal Ann Taman, a 40-year-old mother of three, was killed when Harveymordenzenk's pickup truck struck her convertible, which police said was stopped at a traffic light at the corner of Highway 59 and the Perimeter Highway, on the outskirts of Winnipeg.
Chief provincial court Judge Raymond Wyant told the court Wednesday he is considering departing from a joint recommendation made by the defence and the Crown for a conditional sentence of two years less a day, which would not require Harveymordenzenk to spend any time in jail.
Wyant is also considering whether police officers should be held to a higher standard than the general public for their actions, he said.
Wyant questioned both special prosecutor Marty Minuk and defence counsel Richard Wolson at Wednesday's proceedings, askingwhether there was any evidence about whether Harveymordenzenk had been drinking alcoholbefore the crash.
None was offered.
Harveymordenzenk was initially charged with refusing a breathalyzer, impaired driving causing death and criminal negligence causing death, but those charges were dropped without explanation when Harveymordenzenk pleaded guilty to dangerous driving.
In court Wednesday, prosecutor Minukacknowledged thatthe investigation of the crash by the policeforce in East St. Paul, a Winnipeg suburb, was "not satisfactory."
The force is nowunder provincial review over the accident investigation and several other incidentsthat have called into questionhowthe department is being run.
The legal wrangling around the casehas outraged the victim's family.
"When you see people working in the justice system, in the police force, and they treat it with triviality like this, treat it like garbage, it sickens me," said Sveinn Sveinson, Taman's father.
"To lose my daughter to something like this, and there isn't even an offer of any justice —I want to throw up."
Wyant will hand down his ruling Oct. 29.