Christy Natsis sentencing begins with dispute over victim impact statement

Dr. Christy Natsis, the Pembroke, Ont., dentist who crashed into and killed a father of three after drinking and driving in 2011, is a leader and generous fundraiser whose absence from her community while in prison will be widely felt, her defence team told court during the first day of her sentencing hearingon Tuesday.

• Read our live blogfrom the Pembroke courthouse
• Christy Natsis found guilty of impaired driving causing death

The 51-year-old was found guilty in May of impaired driving causing death and dangerous driving causing death in a Highway 17 crash near Arnprior, Ont., on March 31, 2011, that killed 50-year-old Bryan Casey.

The Crown is seeking a sentence of six to eight years in prison, while the defence is seeking athree-and-a-half to four-year prison sentence.

After leaving a Kanata bar, the SUV Natsiswas driving impaired on the highway crossed the centre line and struck Casey's pick-up truck head-on without slowing down, despite his manoeuvres to avoid it.

Natsis's lengthy trial in Ottawa was widely covered in the media and took nearly three years to complete. After the guilty verdicts, her lawyers argued for her sentencing to take place in Pembroke, where she lives and continues to operate a dental practice.

She arrived at the courthouse wearing a black and grey dress and jacket, quietly greeting some supporters before sitting next to her husband on two reserved benches in the courtroom.

She stared straight ahead throughout the proceedings, occasionally glancing over at the other side of the courtroom, where Casey's widow, LeeEllen Carroll, and his father, William GusCasey, sat alone.

Natsis pleads guilty to breach

In a surprise move at the outset of the sentencing hearingTuesdaymorning, Natsis pleaded guilty to a breach of undertaking made several months after she was released on bail in 2011.

On Nov. 17, 2011, Natsis bought two 12 oz. bottles of vodka from an LCBO in Ottawa, violating the terms of her release. She was under OPP surveillance at the time and was arrested as she left the store, court heard.

Vincent Clifford, a lawyer on her defence team, said she made the decision to plead guilty to the charge on her own accord, knowing she could have waited for a new proceeding to begin in Ottawa in front of a different justice after Kozloff's ruling.

The plea shows she isn't dodging the matter and is a mitigating factor, Clifford said.

Justice Neil Kozloff quickly disagreed, telling Clifford that breaching a bail condition couldn't be considered mitigating.

The defence has agreed to adriving prohibition of three to four years following sentencing.The Crown has not yet made its submission for how long Natsis' driving prohibition should last.

For the breach of undertaking offence, the defence and Crown agree that a 40-day jail sentence should be served consecutively to the other sentence.

100 character references

On Tuesdayafternoon, after submissions on relevant sentencing case law from defence lawyer Michael Edelson, the defence tabled 100 letters on Natsis's character, written by colleagues, dental clients, charitable board members, relatives and others, describing Natsis as a generous person with her time and money.

She did dental work for free for patients in need, raised money for hospital maternal care and other causes, donated prizes to students during high school graduation ceremonies, treated patients equally regardless of their ability to pay andmentored younger dentists,Clifford told court. He said sheearnedrespect from other dentists,patients and others in the process,

Her dental practice has about 4,000 active patients, and she is one of only a few dentists in Renfrew County who do work for clients who can't afford it, Clifford told court. She also financially supports her troubled twin brother, he said.

Natsis's problems with alcohol began in the years prior to the fatal crash, Clifford told court, when she started using alcohol as a means to deal with stress. She had marital problems and used alcohol to "numb the pain," Clifford said.

But she is, despite the crash and its tragic consequences, a "very good and decent person" whose actions in 2011 stand in "stark contrast" to her otherwise exemplary behaviour in life, Clifford said. He added she will notdrink again.

Natsis expressed remorse: defence

A pre-sentencing report that included an interview with Natsis notes she repeatedly said she felt remorse, and that she thinks about the victims every day, Clifford said.

Kozloff then pointed out another line in the report saying Natsis, whopleaded not guilty and still called the crash an accident in her interview, didn't appear to have fully accepted her actions and their consequences.

The Crown's sentencing submissions are expected to beginWednesdaymorning at9:30 a.m., followed by a response from the defence and the reading of five victim impact statements.

Three of the statements filedTuesdaybut not read aloud contain inappropriate comments, Kozloff said. Crown prosecutor John Ramsay agreedTuesdayto go over certain parts of the three statements with the people who wrote them before they're read at the hearingWednesday.

Natsis is also expected to address the court herself for the first timeon Wednesday, her lawyers said.