Drunk driver gets 2 years for fatal Yukon crash

A British immigrant working in the Yukon has been given a two-year jail term for impaired driving causing death.

Christopher Maxwell-Smith, 27, was sentenced Tuesday for the 2010 highway crash that killed a co-worker near Pelly Crossing.

Maxwell-Smith, a construction worker, was supervising a crew in Pelly Crossing when they decided to drive to Carmacks for beer. He rolled the van, killing co-worker Valentino Vella.

Maxwell-Smith was charged and released, then ignored orders to report to police. He's been in custody since last January after Pelly Crossing RCMPretrieved him from Toronto.

In court this week, prosecutors wanted him to serve at least four years in a federal penitentiary. But the defence argued the man, who has depression, has suffered enough, and a penitentiary term would dash his hopes for Canadian citizenship.

Deputy Judge Nancy Orr agreed. To avoid him being deported she sentenced him to two years less a day and zero credit for nine months already served.

He must also pay a $5,000 fine to cover the cost of bringing him back to the Yukon, and was given a 10-year driving ban.