A Brampton man has been sentenced to two years’ house arrest for causing a 2019 Caledon crash that killed a 48-year-old mother of six and left her two sons with “crippling and permanent injuries.”
“This case involves a colossal tragedy for two families caused by the reckless behaviour” of driver Mitchel Linton, Ontario court Judge Richard Schwarzl wrote in a recent decision sentencing Linton, 27 at the time of the crashon charges of dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
A penitentiary sentence is “not needed to hold this offender accountable nor is it necessary to denounce his conduct and deter others in similar circumstances,” the Orangeville judge wrote in his decision released last month.
Linton was driving his Ford pickup truck on Healy Road in Caledon shortly after 5 pm on June 13, 2019, when he crossed a double solid line attempting to overtake a line of cars on a blind curve where he was unable to see oncoming traffic. Linton accelerated to more than 100 km/h before hitting an oncoming Honda CRV head-on, instantly killing driver Lucia Santo, 48of Brampton.
Her sons Eric Medeiros, 20, and Paulo Medeiros, 18, also suffered “crippling and permanent” injuries, Schwarzl wrote.
“The bodily harm caused to each of Eric and Paulo Medeiros is both severe and long-term. The prospect of recovery for each of them is poor. They are unlikely to thrive in the future, being trapped in broken bodies and souls.”
Schwarzl sentenced Linton to a conditional sentence of two years less a day, to be served at home. Linton will be on house arrest for the entirety of his sentence and is ordered to wear an electronic monitoring device. He is also subject to a driving ban of four-and-a-half years.
Linton did not contest his trial, which was heard in an Orangeville court last fall. His decision of him not to contest the charges translated to the equivalent of a guilty plea, the judge wrote.
Linton had no prior record of criminal or traffic offenses and accepted his guilt with a “deep and genuine contrition for his acts,” Schwarzl wrote. Linton suffered a broken foot and concussion in the crash, subsequently lost his job and relationship, and has since faced anxiety and depression, the judge wrote.
The court received victim impact statements from each surviving victim along with four of Santo’s other children.
“All of them described the dark and empty void in their hearts caused by her untimely, and wholly avoidable death,” Schwarzl wrote.
The Crown had sought a prison term of between three and four years, arguing that a conditional sentence of two years less a day does not adequately address the principles of denunciation and deterrence.
The defense called for a conditional sentence, arguing that the cases presented by the Crown to justify higher sentences possessed aggravating factors that were absent in Linton’s case.
Explaining his ruling, Schwarzl said he must “impose a sentence that tries to balance the harm done to the victims and the community with the duty to treat Mr. Linton fairly, impartially, and in accordance with the law.”
“A global conditional sentence of two years less a day addresses the gravity of the offense and the blameworthiness of the offender.”
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