A 39-year-old woman charged following a motor vehicle crash in Mountain View County more than two years ago that killed two men and seriously injured another woman will be sentenced in January.
Jennifer Dawn Black pleaded guilty on Oct. 2 to two counts of dangerous driving causing death and one count of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.
Black, a Sundre-area resident, entered the pleas in Calgary Court of Queen's Bench on the first day of her scheduled trial.
Black was originally charged with 12 Criminal Code counts: six counts of alcohol impaired related offences causing death/injury, three counts of dangerous driving causing death/injury, and three counts of criminal negligence causing death/injury.
The crash occurred about 10 kilometres north of Sundre, in Mountain View County, on Highway 22 at Twp. Rd. 340 on April 5, 2015.
Perry Vollmer, 57, and Brian Schrader, 65, both from Sundre, died in the back seat of the truck. A woman passenger, Vivian Nielsen, was thrown from the vehicle and suffered chest and other injuries.
The accused was found unconscious still buckled into the driver's seat. She was later flown to Foothills Medical Centre where she remained for two months with head and other injuries.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Black was driving a Dodge Ram 1500 four-door pickup truck when she got into an argument with Vollmer.
"The accused was angry and argued with Vollmer about which route to take," the statement reads.
"Vollmer was seated towards the driver's side of the back seat. The accused turned around and grabbed Vollmer's head with both hands as they argued.
"The accused was facing backwards when the vehicle left the road, with no hands on the steering wheel. The accused hit the approach at the intersection, the truck flew over the fence and rolled end over end."
Data later downloaded from the vehicle indicated it was travelling at 160 km/hour at the time it left the roadway.
Three hours after the crash blood samples were taken from Black.
"The forensic toxicologist determined that at the time of the collision, approximately 10 p.m., the accused's blood alcohol content would have been between 189 and 240 mg per cent."
Black was initially charged with two counts of impaired driving causing death.
The Gazette contacted the Crown prosecutors' office for comment on why the charges of impaired driving causing death were withdrawn in exchange for the guilty pleas to the lesser charges.
In response, the office referred the matter to Alberta Justice spokesperson Scott Sehested, who said, "Because it (the case) is still before the court and it is awaiting sentencing, it would be inappropriate to comment."
