Impaired driver who ran stop sign sentenced to more than 4 years in prison for fatal collision

Family members of an 82-year-old woman from southern Manitoba wiped tears from their eyes and hugged each other inside a Winnipeg courtroom on Tuesday as the drunk driver responsible for causing her death was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison. 

Alexander Joseph Grogan from Stonewall, Man., sat silently in court with his hands clasped during his sentencing hearing before Manitoba provincial court Judge Keith Eyrikson after being convicted of impaired driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm in the death of Marilyn Warkentin, 82. 

Court heard Grogan, who was 29 at the time of the collision on March 11, 2023, drank alcohol at a social event before he got into the driver's seat of his pickup truck and travelled southbound on Road 3 East, northwest of Winnipeg, with a passenger, 28. 

He blew through a stop sign without slowing down and collided on Highway 415,  just southwest of Teulon, with an eastbound SUV that had three people inside from Teulon.

Warkentin, one of the passengers in the vehicle, died at the scene.

Her son, Terry Warkentin, who was driving the SUV, and her husband, Jacob Warkentin, were taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

Grogan and the passenger in his truck were not injured.

"For whatever reason, Mr. Grogan blew straight through that stop sign and hit that car and deprived the Warkentin family of their matriarch, deprived the Warkentin family of a loving member, deprived not only Jacob and Terry of their peace of mind, but the extended family in total," Eyrikson said. 

He likened the impact of losing their loved one to an atomic bomb that has caused irreparable harm in their lives, and recalled how the family described their grief in the victim impact statements they made at a previous court hearing.

An obituary posted online said Warkentin was a wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother who loved to thrift, sew, crochet, work in the garden and read. 

No prior driving violations

Grogan originally faced four charges, but two were stayed.

In court in August 2024, he invited a conviction on the other two charges — one charge of driving impaired causing death, and one charge of driving impaired causing bodily harm, said his lawyer, Matthew Gould.

Inviting a conviction is similar to pleading guilty, but differs in that pleading guilty entails formally admitting to the charges, making it hard to appeal. 

Court heard Grogan was driving 100 km/h in a 90 km/h zone and had a blood alcohol level of 0.02 over the legal limit of 0.08. He had no prior driving violations under the Highway Traffic Act, no criminal record and was assessed as having a low risk to reoffend.

Gould argued for a three-year sentence for impaired driving causing death, two years that would be served concurrently on the charge of impaired driving causing bodily harm, and a two-year driving ban. 

Gould said he didn't believe a credible argument could be made for Grogan to receive a greater sentence because the aggravating factors in the case, including his blood alcohol level, his manner of driving and his driving history, were not as serious compared to other cases where drivers had double the blood alcohol limit, and had been travelling at higher speeds. 

Crown attorney Brendan Roziere argued for a six-year sentence.

"The court's ultimate task is to impose a fit and appropriate sentence that ensures that there's no free ride, that everything's being accounted for," Roziere said. 

Sending a message

When Eyrikson delivered his decision in court, he said it was important for Grogan's sentence to send a message of deterrence, and that behaviour like Grogan's "will be treated with seriousness and that the community will look to know that people are not receiving slaps on the wrist."

He noted that impaired driving is the leading criminal cause of death and injury in Canada. 

Court heard Grogan is a trained electrician who has worked for the Canadian National Railway since 2017. While he chose not to speak in court, his presentence report showed remorse, Eyrikson said. 

Grogan was joined by 17 members of his family, who sat teary-eyed in the court, and had 101 letters of support, court heard. 

"Mr. Grogan, you have a very supportive family, there's no doubt about that," Eyrikson said. "They remain steadfastly behind you and wish that this had never happened."

Eyrikson sentenced Grogan to four and half years in federal prison on the impaired driving causing death charge, with a two-year concurrent sentence for causing bodily harm and a 10-year driving prohibition.

He then turned to four Warkentin family members in court and two listening online.

"While these words can't offer much, I hope at the end of the day, that this process can provide at least some peace," he said. "You all deserve to move past this."