Kelowna biker did 253 km/h in a 60 zone, but court says 10 months jail too harsh

A Kelowna motorcyclist who was caught driving 253 km/h in a 60 zone has had a 10-month prison sentence vastly reduced.

In a unanimous June 3 decision, the BC Court of Appeal reduced Christopher Blair Muir’s jail sentence to three months, saying the decreased prison time would not cause people to lose confidence in the justice system.

Muir was jailed after the court found that on at least 26 occasions he had driven his motorcycle at dangerously high speeds through Kelowna.

“While doing so he had occasionally performed wheelies and disregarded red lights,” Justice Peter Willcock said in the decision.

He was caught doing 253 km/h in a 60 km/h zone in a residential area and 180 km/h in downtown Kelowna. He was going 123 km/h while doing a wheelie and at numerous other times hit speeds of 200 km/h while often doing more wheelies.

Muir may have gotten away with a single driving offence had he not filmed his biking antics with a GoPro camera and posted the footage online. When police finally caught up with him the video meant they had a wealth of evidence of his terrible driving.

It didn’t help his case that when arrested, he got into a scuffle with police, leading to a charge of resisting arrest.

Early this year, Provincial Court Judge Monica McParland rejected a joint submission on sentencing for three months jail.

In Canada, judges largely have to follow Crown and defence lawyers’ joint submissions, and only reject the proposal if it would bring the “administration of justice into ill repute.”

But in a rare move, McParland had rejected the joint submission, saying it was far too low for Muir’s “reckless” and “selfish” driving and the public would be outraged.

However, Muir’s lawyer argued the judge had focused on “public outrage” and not the legal facts of the case.

In coming to a decision that three months’ jail was appropriate after pleading guilty, the Crown had said there could have been issues proving the video footage was Muir, and possible problems in the seizure and search of the GoPro device.

Ultimately, the Court of Appeal sided with the joint submission, saying three months’ jail would not signal the breakdown of the justice system.

With time already served in custody, Muir was left with 32 days in custody.

His three‑year driving prohibition will still remain in place.