Public petitions begs leniency for Quebec duck lover who caused fatal crash

There are two ways to look at Emma Czornobaj, the Quebec woman who was convicted last month in the deaths of two people who drove into the back of her car after she had stopped to move a group of ducklings off the road.

Either she is a negligent criminal whose carelessness played a role in the death of a man and his daughter, or she is a caring animal lover, whose carelessness played a role in the death of a man and his daughter.

Considering Czornobaj was found guilty of two counts of criminal negligence causing death and two counts of dangerous driving causing death, a jury appears to lean toward the former interpretation. But nearly 9,000 others, and probably more than that, are leaning toward the latter.

In a growing petition on Change.org, more than 8,900 people are urging Stephanie Vallee, Quebec's justice minister, to show leniency to Czornobaj. While her crimes could result in a life sentence in prison, the group believes there is nothing to be gained by the Crown asking the court for anything more than a minimum sentence.

"Making her serve jail time and ruining what is left of her future will not undo this terrible accident, it will most certainly compound the ugly cost of this accident. Just having lived through it may be more than enough," reads the petition posted to Change.org.

"Ms. Czornobaj was acting as a kind-hearted, compassionate person -- Please - Be kind & compassionate to her! She made a mistake - She knows it."

It is not the only petition calling for leniency toward Czornobaj or her freedom.

Another Change.org petition calls for her to be acquitted. And another petition asks Superior Court Justice Eliane Perreault to let her go outright.

This all began on the evening of June 27, 2010, when Czornobaj was driving along Quebec's Highway 30 and spotted a motherless group of ducklings on the side of the road. She decided to help.

Czornobaj testified that she wanted to catch the animals and take them home for safety, and that she put on her hazard lights and left the driver's door open while she briefly tried to corral the animals.

Andre Roy, 50, was driving a motorcycle with his 16-year-old daughter on the back, and collided with the back of Czornobaj's vehicle. The Canadian Press reports that an officer testified Roy had been driving between 113 km/h and 129 km/h when, along a stretch with a maximum speed limit of 90 km/h, he hit the brakes to try to avoid the fatal accident.

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Czornobaj has admitted it was a mistake to stop on the highway, and comments made by Roy's widow suggest the family isn't looking for justice in an extensive prison sentence.

The jury has found Czornobaj guilty in the deaths, as was their right. And on Aug. 8, the the Crown will recommend a sentence and the judge will decide what her punishment will be, as is their duty.

No petition will affect what the court decides, regardless of an increasingly common use of the outlet to express outrage at Canadian governments, laws, courts and the like.

The deaths of two innocent motorists is no laughing matter, but the potentially doomed future of a woman whose admitted mistake was borne from a love of wildlife isn't either.

There is surely a way to punish her without sending her to prison for the rest of her life. Not because a petition is calling for it, but because human decency does.

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