A St. Albert man who was convicted of impaired driving causing the death of an Edmonton teen in a lit crosswalk was released from prison this month.
Shane Stevenson, 51, of St. Albert, was released from prison on Feb. 10 after losing two earlier attempts at parole.
Stevenson, who working as a lawyer at the time of the crime, pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing death in October 2020 in an event that cause the death of 16-year-old Chloe Wiwchar. He was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison and was released after serving just more than two years.
On April 15, 2018, Wiwchar was crossing an Edmonton street at a crosswalk with flashing amber lights. Stevenson struck Wiwchar at an estimated speed of 69 km/h to 83 km/h in a 60 km/h zone and fled the scene. Wiwchar died in hospital a short time later.
An off-duty police officer was stopped at the crosswalk to allow Wiwchar to cross and noted Stevenson made no effort to stop for the victim, court documents state.The officer then followed Stevenson and contacted 911.
Stevenson was found parked in a parking-lot stall sitting in the driver's seat with the vehicle running. The vehicle had a significant amount of front-end damage. Police detected a heavy odour of liquor from his breath.
Stevenson allowed officers to take two samples of his breath. The first sample detected 170 mg and the second sample detected 180 mg of alcohol in 100 mL of blood. The legal limit in Canada under the Criminal Code is 80 mg in 100 mL of blood.
In January the Parole Board of Canada agreed to give Stevenson, statutory release, which is given to federal inmates after they serve two-thirds of their sentences.
“Undue risk to society”
Stevenson had previously made two attempts to get parole and was rejected both times.
During his second attempt at parole, court documents stated in the opinion of the two-member parole board panel, Amy Agar and Ricky Head, Stevenson would present an “undue risk to society” if released on either day or full parole, according to previous Gazette reporting.
“You disclosed a highly frequent habit of impaired driving, including driving multiple times while “blacked out,” where you have put society at risk of harm for a period of many years, since you reported only being sober for three distinct (and mostly short) periods since being a young adult up to your index offence.
“Therefore, the board puts little weight on the low risk to re-offend scores,” court documents read.
Stevenson had no prior convictions; however, he had charges for driving while ability impaired and failure or refusal to provide a sample. Both charges were in 2009 and were withdrawn in 2011. Stevenson also received a roadside suspension in January 2017.
The parole board asked Stevenson directly how many times he had driven impaired outside of the three occasions he was caught.
Stevenson told the board he drove impaired frequently. More times than he would take a taxi.
When asked how often in a one-year period, Stevenson replied, “at least 20 times.” Stevenson also said he drove blacked out at least five to 10 times that he can remember.
“You advised the board that you would drive impaired because you believed that if you came home in a taxi, your family would find out that you had returned to alcohol use — essentially hiding your problematic behaviour from those trying to help you,” court documents read.
The court documents state the board identified that struggling with an addiction is not in itself illegal, the issue for Stevenson was that he would drive while impaired.
“You agreed, noting that you held an attitude where you believed the rules/laws did not apply to you nor prevent your ongoing criminal conduct,” said the court documents.
