Justice Patricia Hennessy of the Supreme Court of Ontario delivered a not guilty verdict in the trial of Michael Hickey to a packed courtroom on Friday afternoon.
The judge acquitted Hickey on the three counts of criminal negligence causing the death of three people in a fatal crash Aug. 7, 2002.
A vehicle collided with Hickey' tractor-trailer when it rolled over on Highway 69, near the Killarney turnoff. Kelly Ann Henderson and her twin twelve-year old boys, Jordin and Corbin Sauvé, died in the collision.
Almost six years later, after two pre-trial appeals and nine days of trial, the judge ruled that the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Hickey operated the tractor-trailer knowing that there were mechanical difficulties, therefore his conduct did not show wanton or reckless disregard for the lives and safety of others.
Lynn Deshane, of Renfrew, Ontario, is the paternal grandmother of Jordin and Corbin. She sat in the front of the courtroom for days, present for every minute of the trial.
Deshane could not make it to Sudbury for the verdict, but was pacing in her home until she received word of the judge's decision.
“I didn't want him to go to jail,” said Deshane in a phone interview.
Locking Hickey up would not bring back Henderson or Jordin and Corbin, her grandsons, she added.
“I am happy for him,” she continued. “But something or someone has to be accountable.”
During the first few days of the trial, Deshane was nervous, but grew accustomed to the presence of Hickey and his family and friends.
At one point, Deshane remembers putting her hand on the shoulder of Hickey's son and saying, “You take care of your dad.”
“He (Hickey) did not plan on doing it,” she said. “I feel for his family.”
Although she is disappointed she could not make it back for the verdict, Deshane is happy to be surrounded by her family at home, including her daughters.
“My girls were like mothers to those twins,” she said.
They always said to her, “Mom we don't need to have kids because we have Jordin and Corbin.”
The twins were Deshane's only grandchildren.
