A judge has ruled that the young offender convicted of manslaughter in the death of Langley's Carson Crimeni will serve his full sentence in prison, rather than being released early.
The offender, whose name cannot be published because he was under 18 at the time of the crime, had applied to have his sentence reduced after a year behind bars. In 2023, he was sentenced to 18 months in prison followed by 18 months of supervised release in the community.
Carson, who was just 14 at the time of his death, was killed by an overdose of MDMA he received at the Walnut Grove skate park on Aug. 7, 2019.
Just before the case was to go to trial, the offender pleaded guilty. He admitted to selling a dose of MDMA to Carson, and that when Carson asked for a second dose some time later, the offender gave him a much larger dose than Carson requested.
Carson believed he had ingested the equivalent of three “caps” of MDMA, or about 0.3 grams. In fact, he may have received as much as 13 caps in total that day. An autopsy revealed blood-test results consistent with having consumed at least 10 times a single average dose.
After he ingested the drug, videos of Carson in a seriously intoxicated state began circulating online, with other young people laughing at him.
He was found in medical distress several hours later, not far from the skate park. His body temperature spiked to over 107 degrees Farenheit (42 degrees Celsius), and he died of cardiac arrest despite being rushed to hospital.
A lengthy police investigation led to manslaughter charges in 2022.
Justice Kathleen Ker, who handed down the original sentence, presided over the recent hearing under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, under which youth sentences can be reviewed after the first year.
The review took place in December 2024, and Ker's ruling was issued in early January, but only recently released.
Ker looked at the offender's history behind bars, and decided his record in custody was a mixed one.
On the positive side, the offender has completed his high school education and received his Dogwood diploma, worked with the prison's fire crew, and has completed training in basic carpentry, electrical work, first aid, and forklift operation. He was considered trustworthy enough that he was allowed to work outside the prison's gates, but still on its grounds, with a work crew.
"More recently, though, there has been a regression in his behaviour," Ker wrote in her decision.
The first incident involved foraging for mushrooms, contrary to the centre's policies. He and another inmate also built what Ker described as "a makeshift cardboard hockey court" in a work area. A staff member told them to dismantle it, then went on vacation for a few days, returning to discover it was back in place.
That incident led to the offender being re-assigned out of the prison's forestry program.
The Crown argued that the original sentence should stand, while the offender's lawyer said he had made enough progress to warrant an earlier release.
Ker agreed the offender, who is now in his early 20s, had made progress while in prison.
"However, after viewing the overall arc of his behaviour and efforts while serving this sentence, I would not characterize his overall efforts as qualifying as exceptional," she wrote.
She reconfirmed the original sentence and dismissed the application to have it reduced.
