Drunk driver Marco Muzzo, who killed three children and their grandfather, is granted full parole

Thestar.com
Feb. 10, 2021
Jim Rankin

Marco Muzzo, a Toronto-area man from a wealthy family who drove drunk and killed three children and their grandfather, and injured two others, has been granted full parole.

Muzzo, who was sentenced in 2016 to nine years and four months in prison for killing Daniel, Harrison and Milagros Neville-Lake -- aged nine, five and two -- and Gary Neville, 65, in a 2015 collision, was previously granted day parole in April 2020.

Muzzo appeared Tuesday at a virtual Parole Board of Canada hearing wearing a face shield and paper mask. Close to 50 people were on the video call, including four victims, media, other observers and parole board panel members Douglas Kirkpatrick and Kirsten Goodwin.

Muzzo was assisted by a lawyer who was nearby and was masked for social-distancing reasons, according to a parole board spokesperson.

That left only Muzzo’s eyes visible throughout the hearing. He did not appear to become emotional through any of four victim impact statements delivered by his victims’ families, including Jennifer Neville-Lake, mother of the children and eldest daughter of Gary.

Leading up to the hearing, Neville-Lake took to social media to remind the public of what has been lost. Her son, Daniel, she wrote on Twitter just before the hearing, would have celebrated his 15th birthday a week ago.

“Today I will see my son Daniel’s killer,” she wrote in a tweet before appearing at the board.

“Today I will see my son Harry’s killer Today I will see my daughter Milly ‘s killer Today I will see my dad’s killer.” In another tweet: “... their killer might go home.”

Appearing before a backdrop of art done by her children, Neville-Lake told the board she lives in fear that she and family may come into contact with Muzzo and “begged” the board to have him serve out his parole outside the province. She noted his family’s considerable wealth and asked that his parole play out in Alberta, where the family business has operations.

Jennifer Neville-Lake speaks to media as a supporter holds a photo of her late daughter Milly, left, and son Daniel, during a Nov. 7, 2018, press conference.

Neville-Lake’s mother and grandmother were also injured in the crash caused by Muzzo.

“He scares me,” said Neville-Lake, who reminded the board that she miscarried the day two of her children were taken off life support and has had suicide attempts, to the point that medication she needs for migraine headaches is kept locked up and carefully administered to keep her safe.

Each family member asked that the board bar Muzzo from much of Ontario, including York Region and Vaughan, where Muzzo killed the Neville-Lake children and where a memorial is in place. Muzzo has a home and family business headquartered in York Region, and at the end of the day, the panel made a decision that prevents him from going home.

Muzzo had flown home on Sept. 27, 2015, via a chartered plane after an alcohol-laden weekend bachelor party for him in Miami. Hungover, he drank during the flight and then drove impaired toward his home in King City.

He blew past a stop sign and caused a horrific collision with the family.

Neville-Lake pointed to Muzzo’s testimony at an April 2020, parole board hearing around his use of alcohol and how he placed blame on those around him for his consumption, and had not once managed to mention her dead family by their names.

“My dead are beyond the count of grief,” said Neville-Lake.

Muzzo, 34, later did utter the names of the dead in his discussion with the parole board panel, and apologized again.

His parole officer and corrections case management team recommended full parole with four conditions, including no alcohol consumption, staying away from the victims and their family and staying out of restricted zones. He has a “positive attitude,” said his parole officer, and takes full responsibility.

Since May, Muzzo has been on day parole, living in a halfway house and spending weekends at a rented apartment with his fiancée. He has been working about 25 hours a week for the family business, and is receiving support from a health team and an addictions specialist of his own choosing.

Muzzo is a first-time criminal offender, although he possessed a driving record peppered with speeding offences and a 2012 offence for public intoxication. He told the board he has not had a drink since the day of the crash and intends not to drink again. He is also regularly being tested for its presence in his body.

He pleaded guilty in 2016 to four counts of impaired driving causing death and two of impaired driving causing bodily harm.

Muzzo became eligible for day parole in November 2018, and was turned down. He became eligible for full parole in May 2019, and was granted day parole last April. His sentence expires in July 2025, and he is ineligible to drive until 2037.

Following the decision, Neville-Lake said on Twitter: “No matter what happened today, Daniel, Harry and Milly are not coming back home. My dad isn't coming home to my mom. Nothing changed for me. My familys killer Marco Michael Muzzo was granted full parole. Thank you for doing your best. I did.”

Muzzo’s case is “one of the worst examples of drinking and driving causing death in Canadian history,” said criminal lawyer Daniel Brown, who is not connected to the case. The near-10-year sentence, said Brown, is “justifiably the high-water mark for crimes of this nature.”

Granting Marco early parole “and forcing him to meaningfully engage in counselling to address his addiction and mental health issues will serve him and society well overall,” said Brown, noting that people granted early parole “rarely reoffend or violate their conditions of parole.” Any breach with the terms of his parole will also land Muzzo back in prison to serve out the remainder of his sentence, said Brown.

Muzzo’s lawyer told the parole board Canada’s system requires that “punishment must be balanced with rehabilitation.”

Under questioning by parole board members about what he thought would be the right thing in terms of geographical restrictions and being allowed to go home, Muzzo said he “just wanted to do the right thing.”

Yet, he had trouble articulating what that might be to panel member Kirkpatrick.

“You and I both know, obviously, victims are paramount. Their concerns are everything to me,” said Muzzo. “I’m a piece of s--- at the end of the day.

“I’m nobody in this equation, but the longer I spend from my family, places of familiarity, losing touch as much as my best efforts and theirs to maintain a point of contact, it’s a place I grew up, got deep roots, volunteer, stuff that I’ve done I can’t begin to tell you. So, I’ve got a lot of support in that area. It’s a delicate conversation, that I know.

“That’s why I’m hoping to find a healthy balance to it all.”

That delicate balance, the panel decided, means Marco Michael Muzzo won’t be going home.