Guilty plea in crash that killed 2

A Cape Breton man has pleaded guilty to drunk driving causing the deaths of two young adults in 2004.

Michael Gerard Cooper, 46, pleaded guilty Monday in Nova Scotia Supreme Court to two counts of impaired driving causing death.

The court heard that Cooper spent seven hours in a tavern in St. Peter's on May 14, 2004. An hour after he left, his truck crossed the centre line of the highwayat River Bourgeois, colliding head-on with another vehicle.

Michael MacLean, 20, and Angela Smits, 19, both from the Sydney area, died at the scene.

When police tested Cooper's blood alcohol level two hours after the crash, it wasmore than three times the legal limit.

Cooper was badly injured in the accident and now lives in an assisted-living home.

Angela Smits' father, Jerry Smits, is relieved Cooper pleaded guilty. He says this ordeal has destroyed his sense of safety in the community.

Smits says every time his 20-year-old son leaves the house, he cannot rest until he's safely back at home.

Cooper faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. He will be sentenced in January.