A Nova Scotia judge has sentenced a 23-year-old man to 4½ years in prison for impaired driving offences in the deaths of two of his friends, a case that has simmered with tension and has been closely watched by dozens of family and friends of the victims. 

Drake Robert Brown has admitted to drinking alcohol and using cocaine, and driving more than 170 km/h on a rural highway in Windsor Forks, N.S., before the Aug. 24, 2023, crash that killed his two rear-seat passengers, Victoria Cousins, 20, and Brayden Lemmon, 20.

“Mr. Brown will bear the burden on his soul of his decisions that night for the rest of his life,” Judge Ronda van der Hoek said Wednesday in handing down the sentence.

The sentencing process, over two days earlier this year, has been at times charged with grief and anger.

As Brown was being escorted out of court Wednesday by a deputy sheriff, Lemmon’s mother, Kyla Loane, said to him: “Don’t kill anybody in jail.” An upset member of Brown’s family retorted with an expletive.

The prosecution and defence were far apart in their sentence recommendations. The Crown had sought seven years in prison, while defence had argued for two years house arrest, followed by three years of probation that would include a period of curfew.

Brown pleaded guilty last September, on what would have been the first day of his trial, to two counts of impaired driving causing death and one count of impaired driving causing bodily harm related to a front-seat passenger, Dimitri Church, who was injured in the crash.

Brown is a young man, with no criminal record, and letters of support, including from his employer, van der Hoek said.

She said the court must emphasize the principles of denunciation and deterrence in impaired driving causing death cases, and pointed to case law that said that’s particularly true of crimes committed by “ordinarily law-abiding people.” She noted as well the principle of restraint.

Brown’s Chevrolet Monte Carlo smashed into an oncoming pickup truck when he lost control as he sped down the road. He was injured in the crash, spent a number of days in hospital, and does not remember what happened, van der Hoek said.

It took months for RCMP to lay charges, he judge said, in part because Brown was not caught driving the car and they needed to prove who was behind the wheel.

The judge said that according to defence, Brown pleaded guilty after coming to terms with the strength of the prosecution’s case.

‘It’s awful’

Outside the courtroom, Tracy O’Handley, the mother of Cousins, said the next challenge her family will face is when Brown is eligible to apply for parole. She said there will be more victim impact statements, and she and others plan to attend his hearing.

“This isn’t over for us for another four and a half years, right,” she said. “It’s awful.”

She and Loane both said they believe the sentence is too lenient, and that punishments for impaired driving crimes must be stiffened. 

“Four and a half years for killing two people while being so severely intoxicated, not only is it shocking but it’s incompassionate,” Loane said. She also criticized delays in sentencing.

Prosecutor Rob Kennedy said the sentence handed down fits within the general range for such cases. He said since the 1980s, the penalties for impaired driving offences have increased, an indication Parliament recognizes the “carnage” caused by such crimes.

He said Cousins and Lemmon were killed in a “completely avoidable tragedy,” and noted the dozens of family members, friends, employers and former classmates who showed up for court appearances or listened virtually.

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