BEREAVED MOTHERS OUTRAGED AS SMIRKING TEEN LEAVES COURT

SURREY -- A youth convicted Tuesday of three counts of dangerous
driving in a high-speed single-car crash that cost two 16-year-old
boys their lives smirked as he walked out of a Surrey courtroom.

His attitude, and the fact that he still has his driver's licence,
upset the mothers of the two dead boys, who were also disappointed
that the Crown failed to make its case for driving while impaired by
marijuana -- which would have set a national precedent. "We were
hoping that this would be a precedent-setting case and that the laws
would be changed, and need to be changed now," said Helen
Featherstone, whose son Simon died in the April 4, 2002, crash.

Featherstone and Diane Unger, whose son Dayton died in the accident,
stood together in a sad and impromptu news conference on the steps of
the Surrey courthouse.

Evidence introduced during the trial, which concluded in June,
indicated the driver had 144 micrograms per litre of
tetrahydrocannabinol, the active ingredient in marijuana, in his
blood. A witness testified that a level of 35 micrograms per litre
would affect a driver's ability to drive.