Kevin's sentence.
The award-winning Canadian radio documentary produced by CBC Radio, 'Kevin's sentence' follows the story of 19 year old Kevin Halinski after he tragically crashed his car in a drink driving accident killing his two best friends.
The narrated documentary begins with news reports from the night of the crash and Halinski recalling his reaction to the death of his friends. Halinski pleads guilty and what follows is discussion around his sentence.
Community Services and Staff Sergeant, Lloyd Graham talks about what he initially expected as appropriate consequences for taking the lives of two people. Judge of the Interior Court of Justice, Provincial Division, [Saul Ozenshark?] talks about the unique circumstances of the case - the plea of the parents of the victims. We hear from [Cindy] the mother of crash victim, Joey Camless and Dale, the father of crash victim, Andrew Thompson in court as they make their submissions and refer to Halinski as an honest, loving, caring friend.
The Judge says he was moved by the parents’ pleas and rather than serve out a jail term decides to sentence Halinski to 750 hours of community service work. He is required to share the tragic story with High School students along side Thompson and Sergeant Graham, the latter of whom, observes the powerful effect Halinski has on his audience.
After addressing thousands of students Halinski is noticeably physically and emotionally punished as he shows symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder. The sentence remains controversial and Denis Harrison, the prosecution makes an appeals because of the principal of deterrents.
Halinski's Council, Ed Greenspan thinks the Judge was right in placing the emphasis on rehabilitation. After noting the huge effect Halinski had on the students, Sergeant Graham admits his opinion shifted from wanting him incarcerated to agreeing with the choice for Community Service. He explains that no drinking and driving fatalities occurred in the schools Halinski spoke at, over the following summers.
Radio New Zealand programme, hosted by Alison {Parr?}.
She begins, “Last Sunday morning in this programme we played a remarkable piece of radio for you, a Canadian documentary called Kevin’s sentence…”. She goes on to describe the documentary’s awards and interviews the producer, Bob Carty.
Carty speaks from a studio in Ottawa and explains Halinski's story. Excerpts from the documentary include actuality of Halinski presenting to a High School and Camless speaking in court. Carty describes the effect that reliving the night of the crash had on Halinski and what measures were taken to reduce the stress on him physically and emotionally.
Two years on from the crash Carty relays that Halinski appears physically healthy, emotionally stable and has a full-time job. They discuss the how differently the family members grieved and how the making of the documentary was helpful to some, though not to all, in the grieving process.
Carty describes what happened in court on the day the three-judge panel over-turned the crown prosecutor’s appeal to dispute Halinski’s Community Service sentence.
[Original recording ends abruptly - programme interview incomplete].