No need for 'double punishment' in mandatory sentence case, Canada Supreme Court

A woman who was barred from driving for almost two years while awaiting sentencing would face "a kind of double punishment" if she were now handed an additional mandatory one-year prohibition, Canada's top court has ruled.

A woman who was barred from driving for almost two years while awaiting sentencing would face "a kind of double punishment" if she were now handed an additional mandatory one-year prohibition, Canada's top court has ruled.

The unanimous Supreme Court of Canada decision affirmed the common law convention that a court may grant credit for time already served when there is no explicit provision against doing so.

The ruling came Friday in the case of Jennifer Basque, who was charged with operating a motor vehicle with excess blood alcohol concentration in Moncton, N.B., in 2017.

Basque spent the next 21 months, between her initial court appearance and sentencing, under a prohibition that prevented her from driving.

Basque pleaded guilty and a judge levied a $1,000 fine and a mandatory one-year driving prohibition. But the judge also took into account the time that had elapsed, meaning she was not subjected to the further ban on driving.