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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Yellowknife man hung his head Monday after hearing Judge Robert Gorin sentence him to 15 months in jail for dangerous driving, fleeing from police and impaired driving.

"I feel that a jail term less than what I impose would be inappropriate," Gorin said in territorial court before sentencing Kenneth Wayne Curtis, 23.

In doing so, Gorin rejected defence lawyer Paul Falvo's recommendation of a conditional sentence - involving no jail time - for each charge.

On Jan. 30, 2011, the RCMP received a complaint of a Dodge Neon in a parking lot on Old Airport Road in the early morning hours "doing doughnuts," Crown prosecutor Marc Lecorre told the court. Police located the vehicle shortly after on Highway 3 turning back onto Old Airport Road. When the officers tried to stop the Neon, Curtis, the driver, sped up and led the police on a chase through the city, starting with Kam Lake Road, then Finlayson Drive and Range Lake Road. The chase ended on the Dettah ice road when the Neon lost control, did a 360-degree spin and hurtled over a snowbank. Officers approached the vehicle but noticed it had been vacated, said Lecorre.

Police followed a trail of footprints that led to Curtis, who was arrested and taken to the Yellowknife RCMP detachment. There, he provided two breathalyzer samples that measured 200 and 170 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood - both more than twice the legal limit of 80. Police determined that earlier in the evening, Curtis had borrowed the Neon from a friend around 3 a.m. and smashed into a parked Ford truck on Bourque Drive causing $1,602.58 in damage.

Lecorre requested a jail term of 18-24 months for the three offences and a three-year driving ban.

Falvo first requested a curative discharge so his client could get treatment instead of jail, but after a hearing on Monday, Gorin denied the request.

Falvo still argued that treatment rather than jail would best serve the public because his client is likely to re-offend unless he gets help for his alcohol addiction.

Gorin also disagreed with the defence's argument that a diagnostic report filed as evidence supported the finding that Curtis has fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.

The judge gave Curtis credit for an early guilty plea on March 15, 2011; however, given his lengthy criminal record, including a 2008 conviction for dangerous driving, driving while disqualified and fleeing from police resulting in a 22-month sentence, jail couldn't be ruled out.

"The moral blameworthiness on his part is high," said Gorin, who also banned Curtis from driving for three years and ordered him to pay for damages to the truck.

Curtis, dressed in a black suit, apologized for his actions and said he wanted to get help for his alcohol addiction. After receiving the sentence, Curtis hugged his crying girlfriend and mother before being led off to jail.

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