After a lengthy investigation, a guilty plea, and wrenching victim impact statements, the young man responsible for the death of Langley’s Carson Crimeni was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Oct. 26.
Carson, who had just turned 14 a month before his death, died of acute MDMA intoxication after buying what he thought were two or three doses from a 17-year-old drug dealer at the skate park in Walnut Grove in August, 2019.
But in a September sentencing hearing, Crown counsel Matt Stacey told the judge that Carson ingested as much as 13 doses. After becoming intoxicated by a single dose, the dealer gave him a much, much larger amount than Carson believed he was receiving.
The dealer and others were seen on videos shared on social media laughing at the stumbling, sweating Carson, who was found hours later in medical distress by a different group of youths who called 9-1-1.
Justice Kathleen Ker heard that when he was rushed to hospital, Carson’s body temperature was 42° Celsius, or 107.6° Farenheit. He died of cardiac arrest, and an autopsy determined he had the equivalent of at least 10 single adult doses of MDMA in his system, well above the threshold of a lethal overdose.
The young offender, who cannot be named because he was under 18 at the time of the crime, was quickly identified, and actually met with police shortly after the incident, admitting to having given some MDMA to Carson.
He was charged with manslaughter after a lengthy RCMP investigation, and pleaded guilty earlier in 2023.
His defence lawyer emphasized that since the incident, the young offender had gotten off drugs and had stayed employed and out of trouble.
Carson’s relatives, including his father, Aron, and grandfather, Darrel, gave victim impact statements about how the young boy’s death had devastated them.
“I loved my son more than anything in the world, and I struggle to find purpose,” Aron said through tears.
By pleading guilty, the young offender avoided the possibility of being sentenced as an adult.
Instead, Ker handed down a youth sentence of three years, with the first 18 months to be served in a B.C. provincial prison, and the remaining 18 months to be served in the community under restrictions.
Before being sentenced, the young offender apologized to the Crimeni family.
“There is nothing I can say or do that will make things better or bring Carson back,” he said, reading in a steady voice.
He said he was deeply ashamed and haunted by his actions.
“I wholeheartedly apologize to the Crimeni family for the endless suffering I have caused,” he said. He also apologized to the community, his own family, and to Carson himself.
Aron found the apology insincere and convenient, issued just before he was to be sentenced.
Asked if he could accept the apology, he said “How can I?”