Marco Muzzo Gets 10 Years For Killing 3 Kids And Their Grandfather


Marco Muzzo, 29, will now be looking 3 to 10 years down the road for his big wedding day with his lady love. Muzzo was sentenced to 10 years, minus his time in custody, for impaired driving, causing the deaths of four individuals and impaired driving causing bodily harm. The Muzzo case dates back to September, 2015, when Muzzo had slammed into the minivan carrying 65-year-old Gary Neville and his three grandchildren, Daniel, 9, Harrison, 5, and Milagros Neville-Lake, 2. When police arrived on scene, according to the Toronto Star, Muzzo had soiled himself, was unable to follow instructions given by police, and blew three times over the legal limit, which is a blood alcohol limit of 0.08.

Ontario Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst also gave Muzzo five years for each of the two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm in the case of the grandmother and the great-grandmother, who were injured in the crash. She acknowledged in her decision that there was no proper sentence she could mete out that would seem just, given the catastrophic nature of the incident.

“While the criminal justice system can deter and denounce, it is ill-suited to make reparation for harm of the magnitude involved in this case,” Fuerst wrote in her decision.

Fuerst also described the impact seen by the Neville-Lake family of Muzzo’s decision to drink and drive.

“A life sentence has been inflicted on the Neville-Lake, Neville, and Frias families,” she said. “Happy, positive people have been robbed of their reasons for being.”

Jennifer Neville-Lake spoke to the media following the sentencing and was obviously still grief-stricken, according to CBC News.

“The sentence is 10 years and none of my children saw 10 years,” she said while outside the courthouse today. “When you choose to drink and drive you’re hurting other families. You’re killing someone else’s babies — like all of mine were killed.”

Some on social media are appalled that Muzzo apparently got off lightly, though it is likely that the convicted impaired driver does not feel terribly lucky.

While giving her victim impact statement last month, Jennifer Neville-Lake recounted how she wanted to feel her children’s arms around her neck once again while she still tried to navigate the grief that she felt at also losing her father. She added that Muzzo’s drinks that he had prior to getting behind the wheel of a vehicle came with a heavy tab.

Edward Lake, the children’s father, continues to struggle with night terrors and tremors in addition to having repeatedly tried to complete suicide during the drive to the hospital upon hearing that his children had been killed by a drunk driver. It has also been argued that Muzzo’s wealth — according to the Hamilton Spectator, the family is estimated to be worth some $1.8 billion, largely in part due to the construction company and the condominium company they own — actually counted against him, as many have questioned why Muzzo did not simply take a cab home after taking a private jet back to Toronto.

Why indeed? A young man made a terrible decision to get behind the wheel of a car after being intoxicated, and while Muzzo admitted that he was not entirely sure that he was intoxicated at the time, it’s clear that his judgment was impaired, as he was travelling at a speed of at least 85 kilometers per hour at the time of the crash. Now, Muzzo is behind bars, and with the potential for parole in possibly 2.5 years, it is very possible the young man responsible for the death of a generation of family members may be out and enjoying his freedom in under five years — celebrating in a way that the Neville-Lake family never will again.

[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]

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