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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
After being sentenced to his third impaired driving conviction, a Behchoko man was sentenced to serve four months in jail in Yellowknife's territorial court on Dec. 7.

Kramer Lamouelle is also prohibited from driving for four-and-a-half years. Three years of that penalty are for the most recent conviction this past May, and he will also finish a one-and-a-half-year driving prohibition put in place for an impaired driving conviction in January.

Lamouelle was also found guilty of violating his driving probation put in place in January.

According to a statement of facts read in court, on May 18, an RCMP constable was driving along Highway 3 between Yellowknife and Behchoko, where the speed limit is 100 km/h. At about 12:03 p.m., the officer noticed a white Chevrolet heading toward Behchoko driving at high speeds coming up behind his police car. The officer's rear radar indicated the vehicle was being driven at between 136 km/h and 146 km/h.

He turned on his emergency lights to notify the speeding driver to pull over, which the officer noticed was jerky and erratic. The officer also stated the driver and the vehicle matched the description of a complaint called in at 11:30 a.m. about a possible impaired driver.

There was a strong smell of alcohol coming from Lamouelle, the driver of the vehicle, when he rolled down the window to speak to the officer. There were four passengers in the car with Lamouelle: a woman in the passenger seat, and three men in the back seat. After searching the vehicle, the officer found a 750 millilitre bottle of vodka about three-quarters full. The driver had red eyes and slurred speech. After checking Lamouelle's record, the office found that the 24-year-old's driver's licence was suspended as of January 2012 when he was convicted of impaired driving.

Defence lawyer Jay Bran said Lamouelle's father was in the courtroom for support last week and that when his client is not drinking, "he's a productive member of society."

"He knows what he did was a mistake," said Bran.

Lamouelle, who sat at the defence table wearing a blue long-sleeved shirt, jeans and his long, black hair in a ponytail, said he regrets that he was drinking while driving.

"At that time, I was not thinking," he said.

Judge Bernadette Schmaltz sentenced Lamouelle to six months behind bars but subtracted two months he has already served since his arrest in October for violations of court conditions.

"Mr. Lamouelle, you're going to kill someone," said Schmaltz. "It'll be close to four-and-a-half years until you can drive ... you've used up three chances."

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