Muzzo out on bail after entering guilty plea in fatal crash

February 10, 2016 · 0 Comments

By Angela Gismondi
Marco Muzzo is out on bail after pleading guilty to a crash that killed three children and their grandfather.
The 29-year-old from King pleaded guilty to four counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm at the Newmarket courthouse last Thursday.
On the day of the horrific crash, Muzzo arrived at Pearson Airport on a private jet from Miami shortly after 3 p.m., retrieved his Jeep Cherokee from the airport parking lot and drove away. Muzzo drove through the stop sign at Kipling Avenue and Kirby Road at an excessive rate of speed and T-boned the minivan carrying the Neville-Lake family.
The accident claimed the lives of Daniel Neville-Lake, 9, Harrison Neville-Lake, 5, Milly Neville-Lake, 2, and their grandfather Gary Neville, 65. The children’s grandmother and great grandmother were also seriously injured in the crash.
According to police and witnesses at the scene, Muzzo smelled of alcohol, urinated himself, was unsteady on his feet and had glossy eyes. He was also given two breathalyzer tests and blew well over the legal limit both times.
Muzzo was released on $1 million bail with what his lawyer Brian Greenspan called “strict conditions.” Muzzo must live with his mother, not operate a motor vehicle and not purchase or consume alcohol. He cannot leave his home during the day unless he is attending a medical appointment, an appointment with legal counsel or his place of employment and has a curfew of 7 p.m. which is only to be broken in case of a medical emergency. He must check in with the York Regional Police on a weekly basis and he must not have any contact with any member of the Neville-Lake family.
“There is no risk of flight, no risk that there is going to be any breach of bail,” said Greenspan, outside the courthouse after Muzzo was released. “He’s under virtual house arrest and everyone is confident that he will abide by all terms of his release.”
Greenspan said claims that Muzzo is receiving special treatment because of his family’s wealth are “outrageous.” He said Superior Court Justice Michelle Fuerst herself stated every accused person has the same rights. Greenspan added Muzzo needs to deal with medical issues before his sentencing hearing Feb. 23.
“This is not only routine, this would have happened to virtually anyone who had any roots in the community regardless of status,” Greenspan said.
Jennifer Neville-Lake, the children’s mother, spoke to the media outside the court house Thursday.
“It was incredibly difficult to hear the names of my children read out in court along with the charges,” she said, with her husband Edward by her side.
Her son Daniel would have turned 10 years old last Wednesday.
“I’m sure a lot of you know that yesterday was my son Daniel’s tenth birthday,” said Jennifer, showing a picture of the day she gave birth to Daniel and a school photo taken two days before his life was ended by an impaired driver. “Instead, we as his parents celebrated – if you can call it that – at his grave.”
It was a difficult day for her and the family, she said.
“I was always afraid to call him what he is, a drunk driver, but now I can say that,” Jennifer stated. “I don’t have to be afraid to say that anymore. A drunk driver killed my family and he admitted to it.”
Jennifer was asked if she could ever forgive Muzzo.
“No,” she said. “Not at this point. My religion teaches me that at some point, perhaps, if I live that long. But I guess the question is, is this survivable for us to get to that point? Because in order to forgive – I’m not a saint – you have to go through the periods of hate and grief and everything and I’m nowhere near that. I’m still in the information gathering stage. There are still so many pieces I don’t know as to what happened.”
Muzzo left the courthouse surrounded by family, quickly getting into a waiting vehicle. Sentencing is slated for Feb. 23.