The man sent to prison for the death of Silas O’Brien is appealing both his conviction and the five-and-a-half year jail term he was handed earlier this year.

Brent Donald Parent filed with the B.C. Court of Appeals on June 4. No date has been set for the court to hear his case.

Parent was sentenced in May to more than five years in custody, plus a 12 year driving ban to start after he gets out.

Parent had been convicted of criminal negligence causing death, dangerous driving, and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.

Judge Terence Schultes said Parent was totally responsible for his actions.

“No one put him in that situation,” Schultes said, as he handed down the sentence to a courtroom packed with friends and family of both Parent and the victim.

On the night of March 13, 2008, O’Brien and two friends were driving to the airport from Abbotsford, heading west on 16th Avenue in South Aldergrove.

They came up behind Parent, who was also heading west in a larger F-350 diesel pickup truck. Parent, apparently upset at their speed, slammed on his brakes.

When the other vehicle tried to pass, he sped up, and then forced the other truck off the road and into a ditch.

O’Brien and his friends got out of the truck, shaken but unharmed. But a short time later, Parent’s truck returned, swerved toward them, and ran down and killed O’Brien.

The Crown counsel pointed out Parent’s previous driving record of 64 infractions as part of a reason for a lengthy driving ban on top of a jail sentence.

In addition, Parent was actually caught speeding on 16th Avenue, not far from the spot where he ran down O’Brien, on the two-year anniversary of the young man’s death. He was driving more than 100 km/h in the 60 km/h zone.