Robert Major sentenced to 7 years in prison for fatal 2016 Sask. highway crash
Robert Major was sentenced to seven years in prison on Friday, nearly three years after he drove a pickup truck into the side of a semi-truck near Langham, Sask., killing three people — including his girlfriend and two of his sons.
Major was given a seven-year sentence in Saskatoon's Court of Queen's Bench for each of three counts of criminal negligence causing death. He was also given three-year sentences for each of three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
The sentences are to be served concurrently.
Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle said his client "certainly has had a wake-up call," with the sentence paling in comparison to the events of Feb. 22, 2016.
"It's horrible to have to live through what he did, seeing what he saw, sitting in the car with his children while they died," Pfefferle told reporters.
"I can't imagine anybody having to live through that."
Speeding, no seatbelts
Major was in court Friday to be sentenced and hear victim impact statements. He was found guilty Thursday after jury deliberations stretched into the evening.
"You killed my baby," the mother of Kimberly Oliverio, one of three people killed in the 2016 crash near Langham, told Major in her victim impact statement.
Major was speeding down a grid road while he was using his cellphone when the truck he was driving, carrying six passengers who weren't wearing seatbelts, crashed into a semi-truck at the intersection of Highway 16 and Grid Road 3083.
The crash propelled the semi more than 80 metres into a ditch. The battered front of Major's truck was embedded into the semi's first trailer.
Two of Major's sons — Brendan, 4, and Theo, 9 — and Oliverio, his girlfriend, were killed in the crash. Major's nephew, who was also a passenger, had both his legs broken. An employee of Major who was in the truck, Scott Eckel, suffered brain damage.
Oliverio's mother's statement was one of eight read Friday. She said she didn't even get a chance to meet Major before his actions took three lives.
"I ask that Kimberly's death not go unnoticed, nor in vain," her statement read.
Neal Lensen, the driver of the semi-truck in the crash, said the incident was entirely preventable.
The surviving youth who was in the vehicle at the time of the crash spoke about how he could hear the cries of Brendan, who died in the crash.
"That accident killed me too," the youth wrote.
The Crown argued that Major deserves a "severe" sentence.
Major had "a horrible driving record" both before and after the crash, the Crown said, referring to him as a scofflaw.
Post-crash driving infractions 'disgusting': Crown
Since the crash, Major has once been caught speeding and twice been caught using electronic equipment while driving, the Crown said.
"It's disgusting, the fact that this experience wasn't enough to teach him to change his ways," said prosecutor Michael Pilon, speaking to reporters after the sentencing.
Pilon said the Crown felt justice was served with the verdict and sentencing.
While the defence had pointed to a downed stop sign at the intersection as a significant factor in the crash, Pilon said that played only a small part.
"The evidence was clear that this [crash] was because of everything Roger Major had done before he ever got near that intersection," he said, adding Major had a greater responsibility to those killed in the crash.
"He owed a higher duty to those people."
Pfefferle said the defence continues to believe the stop sign was a "significant" factor in the collision.
"I think anybody who's driven on a highway or roadway where a sign's missing that they expect would probably agree with us."
He said he and his client would discuss their options, including a possible appeal.
Follow Guy Quenneville tweets from Friday's proceedings. Mobile users can click here to see the feed.
