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A judge sentenced a single mother of two to 32 months in federal prison Monday for driving drunk last year, leading to an accident that killed one of her passengers.

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Ray Bourgeios

SENTENCED TO 32 MONTHS IN PRISON: Julie Lynn Dorcas, 26, is escorted from the Justice Building in Fredericton on Monday after being sentenced for the death of Troy Price, 19, who died last year.

Julie Lynn Dorcas, 26, previously pleaded guilty in Fredericton provincial court to a March 31, 2007, charge of impaired driving causing death.

Troy Price, 19, was one of five passengers in Dorcas's vehicle when she lost control of the vehicle and it left the road, coming to rest in a ditch. Price died as a result of the accident, while the other passengers sustained minor injuries.

Crown prosecutor William Corby said officers who responded to the accident scene along Royal Road in the early hours of March 31, 2007, noticed a smell of alcohol on Dorcas's breath and that she slurred her words.

She confirmed she'd been driving the vehicle.

A blood-alcohol analysis expert estimated that at the time of the accident, she had twice the legal limit of alcohol in her system.

Tests also revealed traces of cocaine and THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, in Dorcas's system.

"The group had been partying," Corby said.

An RCMP accident reconstructionist reported that the car was travelling 91 kilometres per hour in an 80 km/h zone, the prosecutor said.

Corby noted that one of the victim-impact statements filed by Price's family members mentioned that the teenager's mother was born deaf and that her only son had served as her ears for years.

Price's family members wept as the circumstances of his death were conveyed to the court.

He said in its recent decision in the case of Peter Leon Howe, the New Brunswick Court of Appeal ruled that he merited a three-year prison term in a fatal drunk-driving case.

Howe, 43, struck cyclist Robbie MacRitchie, 23, on Lincoln Road while driving impaired July 16, 2006.

Corby asked that the same sentence be imposed in Dorcas's case in order to emphasize general deterrence to the public and to denounce the crime.

Defence lawyer David Hitchcock agreed that a federal-prison sentence was called for in the case, but he suggested a range of two to three years would be appropriate.

He said the accident has obviously had a "monumental" impact on Price's family.

"Nothing can replace a life when it is lost," he said.

He said while Dorcas was speeding at the time of the accident, it wasn't excessive, and the investigation revealed she was the only person in the car who was wearing a seat belt.

She's been in counselling and treatment for addictions since the accident, the defence lawyer said, and she's offered no excuses.

Hitchcock said that after he received disclosure of the Crown's case, he told his client she had defences available to her that could have resulted in a not-guilty decision or guilt on a lesser charge. Instead, he said, she chose to take full responsibility.

"She said to me, 'Mr. Hitchcock, I was drinking. I was driving. And my friend is dead,'" he said, and she didn't want to put anyone through the ordeal of a trial so she pleaded guilty.

He said Dorcas deserves a lesser sentence because in the Howe case, it was a hit and run, Howe tried to cover up his crime, he breached conditions placed on him by the court and he killed a stranger.

Hitchcock said Dorcas's passengers all knew what they'd been up to that night and they got into her car voluntarily, opting not to use their seatbelts.

He said Dorcas has two children, aged seven and two years, and she's already made arrangements for their care while she's gone.

"She knows she's going to jail," he said.

Dorcas told the court there are no words to describe her regret and she hopes her punishment will bring some measure of peace or closure to Price's family.

"I do not believe that I deserve any pity, nor do I want any," she said, tears streaming down her face.

Judge Graydon Nicholas, whose original sentence of house arrest was overturned in the Howe case, said the Court of Appeal has provided him with guidance in sentencing in cases of impaired driving causing death.

He said such behaviour has to be denounced in no uncertain terms and that sentences have to be harsh enough to deter others from driving drunk as well.

Case law also indicates that society shouldn't view such incidents as unfortunate accidents but as wilful crimes, he said.

"The consumption of alcohol is a voluntary act. The consumption of drugs also is a voluntary act," the judge said.

However, he said, no two cases are the same.

"You did not leave the scene of the accident. You did not try to cover anything up," Nicholas said.

That's why he chose to sentence her to 32 months in prison as opposed to 36 months, he said.

The judge also prohibited Dorcas from driving for four years following her release and ordered her to pay a victim-fine surcharge of $100.

Pam Henderson, Price's cousin, said outside the courtroom that the prison sentence came as a relief.

"I'm happy that she was sentenced to at least something," she said.

"(Troy's) death has been at least acknowledged."

Henderson said she was worried Dorcas might get a sentence of house arrest because she has two young children.