Man who caused fatal 2023 crash on Capilano Bridge will spend nearly 5 years behind bars

The man who killed a Toronto woman in a wrong-way crash will serve less than five years in prison. Amanda Anderson reports.

An Edmonton man responsible for a wrong-way, head-on crash on the Capilano Bridge that claimed the life of a Toronto woman has been sentenced.

In June 2023, Tryton Desjarlais was driving the wrong way on Wayne Gretzky Drive, almost hitting an Edmonton Police vehicle before slamming head on into an SUV.

Jayda Mitchell, a 20-year old passenger in the SUV, was killed.

SUV driver Mark Garner suffered life-altering injuries he’s still dealing with today.

A passenger in the pickup truck was also hurt.

“I’m numb,” said Jayda’s mother Shannon Mitchell.

“As any parent or anybody going through something traumatic, you just protect yourself by feeling nothing.”

Before Justice Rhonda Tibbitt delivered her sentence, she thanked the family and friends of the victims for telling the court how Desjarlais’s actions have impacted them.

“It was important for Mr. Desjarlais to hear your pain,” Justice Tibbitt said.

She then sentenced Desjarlais to 12 years for all three counts.

Five years for impaired driving causing the death of Jayda, four years for causing bodily harm to Garner and three years for causing harm to the passenger in his truck.

The sentences will be served concurrently meaning Desjarlais will be behind bars for five years.

“It felt like a slap in the face a little bit,” said Shannon.

“I understand the justice system is not necessarily to punish but it’s for reform and to deter people from doing the same kind of actions, and I don’t think it’s going to,” she said.

During the sentencing hearing in December, the court heard Desjarlais was driving at a speed of 137 km/h seconds before impact, and that an hour after the crash, his blood alcohol level was two times the legal limit.

“This was not Mr. Desjarlais’s first time driving impaired,” Crown prosecutor Bonita Arbeau said during the hearing.

A driver’s abstract provided to the court showed an immediate roadside sanction fail in February 2023 as well as convictions for speeding and stunting.

“His licence was suspended at the time of this offence,” Arbeau said.

While Shannon knows nothing will bring her daughter back, she plans to advocate for stiffer impaired driving penalties.

“I think that’s the only way I could try to get some sort of justice for the loss of my daughter and to ensure that other people do not have to go through the suffering that I and my family have gone through,” Shannon said.

Desjarlais had his bail revoked at the end of the December hearing and has been in custody ever since.

With credit for time served, he has four years, 280 days left in his sentence. He will also be banned from driving for five years upon his release.