On Sunday, September 27th, 2015, four lives were lost and a family was torn apart forever. Around 4 pm that evening Marco Muzzo, heir to Canada’s one of the wealthiest families was returning from his bachelorette in Miami. He and his friends partied and drank before returning home on a private jet, a final trip during which Muzzo said he had three drinks. Once home, Muzzo said he jumped into his Jeep SUV "without thinking twice", as he didn’t think he was drunk at the time, and none of his 12 or so companions intervened. "It was a gamble," he admitted. As for his speed, Muzzo admitted to traveling about 20 km/h faster than the speed limit as per usual with his car set on cruise control. It was later determined that Muzzo was approximately three times over the legal alcohol limit at the time of the deadly collision.

Harry, Milly, Daniel aged 9, 5 and 2 and their grandfather Garry Neville aged 65 died as a result of the crash. The grandmother and the great-grandmother were also involved in the accident but thanks to God they survived. As a result of this incident the mother of these 3 children Jennifer Neville-Lake, has attempted suicide more than once. In March 2016, Marco Muzzo was sentenced to 10 years in prison, along with a 12-year driving prohibition. 

Muzzo first applied for both day parole and full parole on November 7, 2018, but was denied because Muzzo repeatedly refused to admit to alcohol abuse even though his blood-alcohol level was three times over the legal limit. In April 2020 Muzzo was granted day parole, Muzzo was released from a minimum-security prison in May 2020 and has been living at a community facility since then till he was granted full parole on Tuesday, February 9th, 2021. “My children are not coming back home. My dad is not coming back home to my mom. Nothing changed for me.” said Jennifer Neville-Lake, mother of the children. At the parole hearing Muzzo admits it was the “Dumbest thing I’ve ever done”, he also said, “My heart bleeds every day knowing my actions killed three beautiful children.” The children’s father Edward Lake said “He wants to go home to his family before serving all of his time. How is that fair?”. The parents urged the parole board not to give Muzzo full parole and asked if could be released to another province, to spare them the stress of possibly running into him. 

I believe Marco Muzzo did receive a fair trial because Muzzo was deemed innocent until proven guilty. He was given a fair chance to prove his innocence. Muzzo was charged with: four counts of impaired driving causing death. Four counts of driving over the legal limit. Four counts of dangerous driving causing death. Two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm. Two counts of driving above the legal limit causing bodily harm. Two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. He was given a fair and public hearing, within a reasonable time, by an independent and impartial court. Out of the 18 charges, Muzzo pleaded guilty to four counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm. 

Honestly, I have conflicting feelings about the sentencing in this case. It's very challenging to give a black or white answer, there is a huge gray zone. On one hand, I feel terrible for the children and their grandfather who died that evening and their families. On the other hand, our Canadian Justice System is built on rehabilitation and not punishment. In March 2016, Muzzo was sentenced to 10 years in prison, along with a 12-year driving prohibition. The only way to understand the decision is to think back to the fact that CJS tries to balance two opposite philosophies or models. The due process model stresses the importance of the presumption of innocence and recognizes a responsibility on the part of the judiciary to identify and respond to any abuse of power. It stresses the importance of ensuring that procedures are followed and respected. If the procedures are not followed, factual guilt is not relevant in the model. 

The crime control model protects the public through the capture, prosecution, and conviction of offenders. The belief is that if a person is arrested for a crime, they are likely guilty of the crime. This model stresses the competence of the professionals within the criminal justice system and trusts that they made decisions and used their discretion in the best interest of our society overall. 

Keeping both these philosophies in mind I still genuinely don't believe that this sentence would have served as a deterrent. A person who is usually traveling about 20 km/h faster than the speed limit, has a previous record of several provincial offenses for alcohol and driving (separately). Even though provincial offenses are not as serious as criminal charges, having a history of similar offenses somewhere makes me feel he didn’t learn from those incidents. I also would like to add if he had killed four people with a gun or a knife, would he get 10 years? I don’t think so, then it is not a good enough or fair sentence. It was murder and entirely preventable. Instead of a gun or a knife, his choice of weapon was a vehicle, that is the only difference.

Marco Muzzo became eligible for parole in November 2018, Muzzo has repeatedly denied he had issues with alcohol abuse despite pleading guilty to being impaired during the September 2015 crash. He was found to have a blood-alcohol level of almost three times the legal limit. Muzzo was denied both day parole and full parole. The board stated in its decision at the time that Muzzo had “sabotaged” his rehabilitation by “severely underestimating” his problems with alcohol and failing to seek help while behind bars. In April 2020 Muzzo was granted day parole, was released from a minimum-security prison in May 2020 and has been living at a community facility since then with special conditions. 

On Tuesday, February 9th, 2021 Marco Muzzo was granted full parole. At the parole hearing Muzzo admits it was the “Dumbest thing I’ve ever done”, he also said, “My heart bleeds every day knowing my actions killed three beautiful children.” This time, the parole board said it was “apparent” that he has developed “greater insight into these issues." The board also said that Muzzo demonstrated “more honesty and transparency” than at his previous hearing. “You are more open to accepting your issues with alcohol, and more understanding of the nature of the impairment, your triggers and risk factors,” the decision read. As per the parole board, Muzzo was regularly taking counseling sessions to address alcohol use and misuse and will continue sessions upon his release. On the other hand, the children’s father Edward Lake said “He wants to go home to his family before serving all of his time. How is that fair?”. This comment hit me hard. Muzzo is getting full parole after serving around 4 years in prison whereas he should have done 10, despite his previous record. The biggest thing is that Muzzo CAN go home to his family. But what about the Neville-Lake family, imagine never again getting to hear any of your children again. 

I hope to god nobody has to go through this because someone decided it was a good idea to get extremely drunk and get behind the wheel. Just because Muzzo is sorry doesn’t mean he can have his freedom back. It's also important to think whether the family is ready to accept that sorry, genuinely a sorry won’t bring back their family members, the sorry wouldn’t give those children a chance to grow up and get old. At the least, if Muzzo had done his 10 years it would have given him the time to think and realize that his careless actions resulted in lost lives. I think losing his freedom, luxury, comfort and most of all time away from his family would have taught him a lesson. Staying away from family for long is hard but losing them forever like the Neville-Lake family is even harder. Coping with losing so many family members at once is not at all easy and Muzzo should have to pay a fair price for that. 

I completely understand that parole is not a holiday, the parolee must have a parole plan that supports their release and the risk of engaging in criminal conduct or anything that will jeopardize its success. It is there to help an offender reintegrate into the community on several levels and it is a supervised release that would help them become a law-abiding citizen. In my opinion, parole is quite similar to volunteering, the offender must spend some time giving back to the community and can still enjoy the goodness of life. In simple words parolees can do pretty much anything, except anything bad, there is little to no compulsion on actually deeply thinking and reflecting on one's actions. I know that judges have the option to delay parole eligibility for violent and serious drug offenders from one-third to one-half of the sentence completion, I think this is the least the judges should have done before granting him even day parole. 

Another comment made by Edward Lake about Muzzo was “He said whether he wanted to drink or not, he had to because of expectations by people around him, I feel that he does not regret drinking and driving, he regrets getting caught.” I agree with him because originally at Muzzo’s very first parole hearing in November 2018 he wasn’t granted parole. After all, he wasn’t even ready to accept the fact that he had issues with alcohol and therefore is not addressing what actions led to this incident. By the time the next parole hearing came around, he realized drinking and driving was his dumbest mistake, which ruined a family forever. I have a feeling that at the Feb 2021 hearing he said what he had to, what the parole board wanted to hear to grant parole. He was willing to accept his alcohol problem, he was willing to take counseling and willing to do all sorts of things to get parole in my opinion. 

Even the legal analysts said they said they weren’t surprised to hear that Muzzo was granted full parole because the parole board looks at whether Muzzo would be a threat to public safety, which he’s not as per his parole officer. Muzzo had a reintegration plan, he was going to work 25 hours a week and help out at the men's homeless shelter that he was getting built. As per his parole officer “He takes full responsibility for his actions, it is evident in conversations with him,” she said. “He displays insight and understanding into his offense.” “He will continue to engage in counseling for a long period of time.” He became perfect on paper in less than two years, he had never taken several traffic violations on his driving record nor been taken into police custody in 2012 due to public intoxication seriously before. In none of the news articles, nor in the pictures I have seen Muzzo shedding even a single tear. I would think a normal person would be crying if they had done something like this and genuinely regretted it.

I agree with the people on this one that the outcome of this case does not adequately address the needs of the victims and the loss and pain they experienced. The family was indeed victimized twice. Whenever anything bad happens or unjust with anyone, they always say I will see you in court. This puts a huge responsibility on the justice system, many eyes are watching in the hopes of justice being served so that they can tell their kids to be good, and tell them “see the good always wins over the bad” in the most simple terms. We need to give the person who committed the crime a chance to redeem themselves, but we shouldn’t undermine the pain the victims are experiencing. Imagine a mom who comes home tired from work, but excited to see her kids and cook them their favorite food. As soon as she gets home only to hear they will be coming home in coffins. Her world would be shattered, is it too much for her to expect, that the person responsible for this should serve the maximum sentence possible. First of all, Muzzo was charged with 18 charges, out of the 18 charges Muzzo pleaded guilty to four counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm. If the case would have gone to trial, there may have been evidence recovered that could have resulted in a different and maybe harsher sentence. By pleading guilty to these charges Muzzo got sentenced to 10 years of jail time. 10 years for four lives lost. With a heavy heart, the Neville-Lake family accepted it thinking at least justice was served. 3 years go by, and Muzzo applies for parole and gets rejected because he isn’t remorseful yet. About 1 and a half years later all of a sudden he is remorseful and taking counseling, showing improvement on paper resulting in day parole. The parole board’s decision said that Muzzo would not be allowed in Brampton, King City and Aurora even though the victims had requested that the geographical restrictions cover all of Ontario or at least the York Region, however, the board noted that many of his friends and family reside in the region and they wanted to be mindful of Muzzo’s “need to be able to reintegrate.” This just made me feel that Muzzo’s needs were put above the needs of the victims. This is because everything was revolving around the fact of how to make his reintegration into the community easy and smooth. He may be from one of Canada's wealthiest families but everybody stands equal in front of the CJS. Much I hate to say this, Muzzo didn’t even have to suffer the tiniest bit in comparison to the Neville-Lake family. He just lost 4 years of his life whereas the victims' lives are changed forever. Marco Muzzo may be able to return to his normal life after some time, but the victims will not be able to do that.

One more thing I would like to point out is that someday this case will become a precedent used by someone in court, will our CJS and our society be okay with it. Just four years in prison for four lives lost is sending out a huge message about the values and beliefs of the CJS. I believe after what happened with Marco Muzzo and the court’s decision on it, I don’t think any sort of impaired drivers would reconsider their choices. They will somewhere in their mind know even if they end up killing someone, they would have to serve hardly four years in prison and can easily get out on parole. Just thinking about it gives me chills and shivers that many people might be able to get an easier sentence because of what happened in this case. I believe a court’s decision on a case should serve as deterrence for all, which I am not sure whether this case did. I also would like to repeat that if he had killed four people with a gun or a knife, would he get 10 years? If not, then it is not a good enough or fair sentence. It was murder and entirely preventable. Instead of a gun or a knife, his choice of weapon was a vehicle, that is the only difference.

On Monday June 20th after Father's Day Edward Lake couldn't take the nightmare anymore and comitted suicide. Recently I have also learned that Jennifer Neville-Lake also had a miscarriage the day two of her children were removed from life support.

The scales of justice, the blindfolded lady symbolizes the impartial manner in which our laws are administered, blind to all considerations but the facts. I believe it's also important for our Canadian Justice System to think about what future effects making decisions only based on facts can have on the victims and other cases, isn’t it important to take into account what the victims are suffering through. Was a ten-year sentence, four years in prison and the rest on parole truly enough.

It's time we remind our justice system that scales of justice (blindfolded lady) does not mean that the justice system is blind and treats friends differently from strangers, or rich people better than the poor ones. Inform Doug Ford, premier of Ontario and Doug Downey, Attorney General that this is completely unacceptable and an injustice and the parole board should be ashamed of themselves. #moneyshouln'tbuyfreedom

Please keep Jennifer in your prayers. She's going to need all the love and support she can get right now.