Brent Parent will appeal the length of his court-ordered driving ban, but not his conviction or prison term, his lawyer says.

Parent is currently serving a jail term of up to five and a half years for criminal negligence causing death, dangerous driving, and failing to remain at the scene of an accident.

On March 13, 2008, Parent struck and killed Silas O'Brien with his pickup. O'Brien was standing at the side of 16th Avenue in South Langley with two friends, after Parent had, in a fit of road rage, forced the trio's truck off the road minutes earlier.

Lawyer Vincent Michaels confirmed that an earlier appeal of both the conviction and sentence has been scaled back to focus purely on the driving ban's length.

Parent was banned from driving for 12 years, with the ban to start only when he gets out of prison.

"It's too long, and there may be a problem with the legal reasoning employed by the judge," Michaels said. He declined to talk about exactly what grounds he will use in the appeal process.

Parent is making the best of his situation in prison, Michaels said, describing his client as resilient.

"He is willing to make amends as best he can," he said.

Parent wants to get back to his family and contribute to society again, the lawyer said.

Parent has a lengthy driving infraction record that Crown prosecutors used to argue for strict driving penalties after his conviction. O'Brien, who was 21 at the time of his death, was on his way to a vacation in Hawaii with family and friends when he encountered Parent.

mclaxton@langleyadvance.com