Last Thursday's B.C. Court of Appeal decision marked the end of the road for Carol Berner.
Following the judge's decision to dismiss Berner's appeal for a reduced sentence, one of her lawyers said, "It's over," meaning there will be no further appeals.
Berner was convicted in the 2008 crash that killed four-year-old Alexa Middelaer and seriously injured her aunt Daphne Johanson. The pair was feeding a horse in the 4300block of 64th Street in East Ladner when a car, driven by Berner, plowed into them.
She was convicted in July 2010 of impaired driving causing death, impaired driving causing bodily harm, dangerous driving causing death and dangerous driving causing bodily harm. She was sentenced to 30 months in prison in November 2010. To date, she has only served two weeks of her sentence, having been out on bail pending appeals of her conviction and sentence.
In court, Berner's lawyer, David Tarnow, argued the 30-month sentence is "excessive."
"The sentence imposed was outside the range," he said.
He also argued the con-tent of some of the victim impact statements, including a video played by Michael Middelaer, Alexa's father, of the little girl at a Christmas concert, should not have been played in court during the sentencing hearing.
"I felt that this was inappropriate for the setting," Tarnow told the court.
He said an already highly emotional situation was escalated by the playing of the video and potentially influenced the judge's decision.
Outside the courthouse, Middelaer called the argument against the playing of the video "repugnant."
After several hours of legal arguments, the three-judge panel took just a few minutes to dismiss the appeal.
Middelaer said he was "pleasantly surprised" at the snap ruling in the case.
"It's rare that you see that," said the dad. "This was dealt with in a serious and quick manner, so I was pleased."
However, Middelaer also expressed concern the entire process took so long.
"Our goal is change," he said. "It should never take this long.
"This journey has been five years, which is longer than my daughter was alive."
This latest appeal marked Berner's third attempt at overturning her conviction or getting a reduced sentence.
Following her sentencing, Berner appealed her conviction in B.C. Court of Appeal. That appeal was dismissed last year.
In February, Berner filed for leave to appeal her conviction in the Supreme Court of Canada.
The court, however, dismissed her application last Wednesday.
