dailynewsnblog
An Ontario court has dismissed the appeals by driver Brady Robertson for his conviction and sentencing to be overturned in the 2020 fatal crash that killed teacher Karolina Ciasullo and her three daughters when he struck their vehicle after consuming cannabis.
The ruling was issued by the Court of Appeal for Ontario on Tuesday.
Robertson filed his appeal in 2022, only a few months after his conviction and sentencing, with his lawyer alleging the trial judge was wrong to uphold the constitutionality of Canada’s law setting out a legal limit for THC blood concentration when driving.
The judge in the case had found Robertson guilty of having more than the legal limit of THC in his blood on June 18, 2020, when the crash occurred in Brampton, Ont.
He was sentenced to 17 years behind bars, though he received nearly three years in credit for time served, bringing the total down to 14 years and two months.
In his appeal, Robertson sought to have the section of the law relating to THC blood concentrations declared invalid and his convictions on impaired driving quashed.
But in the ruling Tuesday, Chief Justice of Ontario Michael Tulloch said he was dismissing the appeal on conviction because the THC limit is constitutional, writing that it is neither arbitrary nor overbroad.
“Against this framework, the appellant has not met the high burden required to establish overbreadth,” the justice wrote.
Robertson had pleaded guilty to four counts of dangerous driving causing death in connection with the June 18, 2020, crash, but pleaded not guilty to four counts of operation while impaired by drugs causing death. His lawyers had challenged the constitutionality of the law on drug-impaired driving.
Get daily National news
Get daily Canada news delivered to your inbox so you’ll never miss the day’s top stories.
During the trial, Justice Sandra Caponecchia found Robertson had a THC concentration of 40 nanograms of THC per millilitre of blood about 45 minutes after the crash — eight times the legal limit.
The constitutional challenge was rejected in April 2022, leading to the guilty verdict.
He was also found guilty of dangerous driving in a separate crash two days earlier on June 16, 2020. In that case, he had failed to stop at an intersection and crashed into a barrier, the judge said. As a result of the impact, he was “jolted out of his slumber” and sped away to evade police. No one was injured in that incident, but the judge said Robertson was not deterred by previous penalties for his driving and the June 16 crash did not serve as a “wake-up call.”
The then 21-year-old had also appealed his sentence, arguing the one imposed was “unfit and unduly harsh.”
Robertson argued the 17-year sentence was “disproportionate” compared to two other cases, including the 10-year sentence imposed on Marco Muzzo, who pleaded guilty in the death of Jennifer Neville-Lake’s three children and father, Gary Neville, in a 2015 crash.
Tulloch disagreed, writing when looking at the cases, the comparisons “do not establish demonstrable unfitness.”
“As the trial judge reasonably concluded, the exceptional combination of aggravating factors in this case justified a sentence exceeding both Muzzo and the cases summarized in Altiman,” Tulloch wrote.
The justice went on to note the harm from the 2020 crash was “devastating” and that Ciasullo’s husband, Michael, continues to endure “profound” trauma.
“The fact that the appellant was being sentenced for two criminal driving events, his pattern of dangerous conduct, and the extreme manner in which he drove on both occasions justified a sentence exceeding those imposed in Muzzo and similar several-death cases involving catastrophic harm,” Tulloch wrote.
During Robertson’s sentencing hearing, prosecutors had sought a 23-year prison sentence and a lifetime driving ban for Robertson. His defence argued he should be sentenced to seven years and face a 10-year driving ban.
In her ruling, Caponecchia acknowledged Robertson had lived a difficult life, marred by poverty, abandonment, drug use and abuse. He was also shuffled between Ontario and Alberta in the care of various relatives and dropped out of school at 16, she said.
She said his youth, lack of record, remorse and harsh pretrial detention were all mitigating factors. At the time, the judge said the 23 years asked by the Crown was unprecedented and did not consider mitigating factors, but also said the amount suggested by the defence was not enough.
“The trial judge carefully weighed the exceptionally aggravating features of this case: the loss of four lives, the appellant’s profound disregard for public safety, and the pattern of dangerous driving reflected in two separate high-risk police pursuits,” Tulloch wrote in his ruling. “The sentence was justified and consistent with the governing principles of sentencing.”
© 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
