MONTREAL - It's a legal provision generally reserved for the very worst criminals.
But a Quebec Crown prosecutor is trying to get a recidivist drunk driver, who mowed down a wheelchair-bound mother last year on her birthday, declared a dangerous offender.
Roger Walsh pleaded guilty in December to drunk driving causing the death of 47-year-old Anee Khudaverdian.
Crown prosecutor Joey Dubois wants to make an example of the St-Lazare, Que, man by having him declared a dangerous offender and locked up indefinitely -- a tactic that has yet to succeed in Canadian courts in drunk driving cases.
But the attempt is being heralded by the family of the victim and anti-drunk driving advocates, especially given Quebec's typically lax stance on the issue.
"Quebec's been funny on impaired driving -- certainly the judges -- they've been better lately but they certainly haven't been very aggressive in long sentences for chronic offenders," said Andrew Murie, CEO of Mothers Against Drunk Driving Canada.
"I was pleasantly surprised when I heard about the application in Quebec because it raises the bar."
Khudaverdian's younger sister Clara said her family fully supports the Crown's move.
"It didn't happen in Alberta and it didn't happen in Ontario ... but they've never tried it in Quebec and I think that we should set precedent somewhere," said Khudaverdian.
"The bottom line is that he killed my sister -- an innocent woman with a seven-year-old child.
"He sentenced my niece to a life without her mom."
Dubois made his intentions known recently when he asked that the court send Walsh, 56, to undergo a psychiatric evaluation -- the first step in determining dangerous offender status. Defence lawyer Jacques Vinet said he'll argue against the move in February.
Dangerous offender status would mean indeterminate detention for Walsh.
Another option is long-term offender status, reserved for repeat offenders of violent crimes where there is evidence they can be controlled. It comes with a 10-year court-ordered supervision following the original prison sentence.
Legal experts say it will be difficult for the Crown to obtain the dangerous designation.
"The way the dangerous offender provisions work -- it's generally reserved for the worst of the worst," said Sanjeev Anand, a law professor at the University of Alberta.
"Most individuals who drive drunk are not intending to hurt others."
Last year, an Alberta judge declared Raymond Charles Yellowknee a long-term offender in sentencing him to more than 20 years in prison for killing a woman and her three children.
Yellowknee, 35, who has 16 years remaining on his sentence with time served, will be supervised for a decade after the completion of his sentence and is banned from ever driving again.
Yellowknee pleaded guilty to 18 charges in connection with the January 2006 collision, including four counts of drunk driving causing the deaths of Misty Chalifoux, 28, and her three daughters -- Michelle, 13, Trista, 9, and Larissa, 6.
"Though we'd like to have seen it in that case, you can't argue a 20-year sentence," Murie said, adding that Yellowknee's sentence is the longest ever handed down.
In the other documented case, an Ontario court sentenced Tim Allen in 2003 for repeat drunk driving offences and was able to add the long-term offender tag.
Murie said MADD supports dangerous or long-term offender status for chronic drunk drivers.
"It sends a message out there that in these extreme circumstances that we won't hesitate to apply for these types of applications and we think they fit," Murie said.
Walsh has a lengthy criminal record and had been convicted of impaired driving twice before he got behind the wheel last October.
He pleaded guilty in December to hit and run causing death, impaired driving causing death and violating a court order from a previous conviction which banned Walsh from consuming alcohol.
The polio-stricken Khudaverdian, confined to a wheelchair since childhood, lived for her daughter and was an animal lover who volunteered at local shelters.
Clara Khudaverdian said people like Walsh don't deserve an unlimited number of chances.
"I think our judicial system needs a major overhaul," she said.
