Parole board revokes early release for deadly drunk driver

A drunk driver who killed two people and seriously injured a third while behind the wheel of a stolen truck has had her early release from prison revoked.

Cheyann Peeteetuce, 25, was sentenced in June 2015 to six years in prison after pleading guilty to charges including two counts of criminal negligence causing death and one count of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

She was driving drunk in a stolen pickup truck on May 5, 2014 when she sped away from a police officer who tried to pull her over. She crashed into a car carrying J.P. Haughey and Sarah Wensley, both 17, and 16-year-old Kara Morin.

Haughey and Wensley both died and Morin was left seriously injured.

David Wensley, Sarah’s father, told 650 CKOM he has avoided attending Peeteetuce’s parole hearings.

“To me, I never felt like I had justice in the first place and I don’t really think the amount of time she does in prison is going to change that.”

With credit for the time she spent on remand awaiting trial, Peeteetuce had  four years, four months and seven days left to serve when she was sent to prison.

In May 2018, she was let out from a facility in Edmonton on statutory release, which is generally given to offenders once they complete two-thirds of their sentence.

Peeteetuce’s release included a condition that she abide by a curfew.

She failed to come to the door on Aug. 31 when a police officer was sent to check that she was home. At that point she was declared unlawfully at large and a warrant was issued for her arrest.  She was apprehended a few weeks later and sentenced to 30 days for breaching her release conditions.

The Parole Board of Canada held a hearing Nov. 30 to determine if Peeteetuce would be required to serve the remainder of her original sentence in addition to the 30 days she got for the breach.

Documents obtained by 650 CKOM show that Peeteetuce told the board she missed her curfew check because she was babysitting for someone who failed to come home on time.  She told officials she got scared she’d be sent back to prison once she knew she’d missed curfew and opted not to return home.

While the board commended Peeteetuce for attending programming since her return to prison, they revoked her statutory release over the curfew breach, writing:

“The Board has considered all relevant, reliable and persuasive information and weighed your presentation at today’s hearing.  Included in this review were letters gathered from you and from a family member who offers ongoing support.  When all information is assessed, the Board finds that your risk on statutory release escalated and became undue and that the circumstances surrounding suspension were within your control.”

Peeteetuce has about a year left to serve.

David Wensley said he doesn’t think Peeteetuce will ever be rehabilitated.

“I wish she would have…. felt remorseful, so remorseful about what she’d done that she’d gone and got some help for her behaviour and hopefully her behaviour will change.  But it doesn’t look like she’s going in that direction. It looks like she’s going to continue on the path she’s on and I think that’s unfortunate,” he said.

—With files from 650 CKOM’s Brent Bosker