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| Vehicular homicide sentences vary widely |
| By missoulian.com |
| Published: 06/08/2009 |
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By TRISTAN SCOTT of the Missoulian At a glance, the criminal experiences of Kenneth “Sonny” Martin and Anthony Michael Dailey appear strikingly similar. Both are young men who caused car crashes in which people died. Both were charged with vehicular homicide while under the influence of alcohol. At sentencing hearings in court, both Martin and Dailey faced the same judge. But the similarities end there. Dailey is serving a 30-year prison sentence, the maximum penalty allowed by law. Martin, on the other hand, avoided serving time in prison altogether. Their disparate cases show that one-size-fits-all punishments don't apply in alcohol-related vehicular homicide cases, which are often complex and can vary from case to case. Twenty-five Montanans have been convicted in the last four years of the felony charge of vehicular homicide while under the influence, cases that resulted in 31 deaths, according to records maintained by the Department of Corrections. The defendants have received punishments ranging from 30 years in prison to no time behind bars. In August 2005, Martin, of Missoula became the first person in Montana to be charged with vehicular homicide while under the influence when he caused the drunken-driving deaths of his two closest friends - Trent Robinson, 22, and Seth Mineo, 21. The three men had been drinking gin and tonics at several bars when, at around 2 a.m., Martin raced his Subaru down Johnson Street and crashed into a parked pickup truck near the intersection of 13th Street. He continued driving several blocks before stopping the car. When police arrived, he was walking around outside the vehicle, crying and yelling, “I'm guilty, I'm sorry.” Robinson and Mineo were trapped inside the car, and were later pronounced dead at the scene. Martin was arrested and charged with two felony counts of vehicular homicide, for which he faced a maximum penalty of 60 years in the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge. Prior to a statute enacted by the Montana Legislature earlier that year, the charge would have been defined as negligent homicide, which carries a lesser sentence of 20 years. But six months after his arrest, the family members of both victims met with Martin in a Missoula County prosecutor's office. Together, they worked out a plea agreement that called for a term of 30 years in the Department of Corrections with all but five years suspended, sparing Martin from serving time in the Montana State Prison. Instead, he's serving his sentence in a prerelease center and is permitted to leave for work and school. “We just wanted to give Sonny a second chance,” said Jan Robinson, Trent's mother. “We just feel as though this was a horrible, tragic incident. We are very thankful that Sonny won't be going to Deer Lodge.” Although 4th Judicial District Judge Doug Harkin accepted the agreement, he just as easily could have rejected it, noting that “if it had not been acceptable to the family members, I can assure you I would not have followed” the plea bargain. The plea bargain also prohibits Martin from driving for a period of 30 years and requires him to devote 600 hours of his time speaking to teenagers about the dangers of alcohol. “Judges look at the criminal histories of the defendants, but they also look at what the family members of the victims want,” said Deputy Missoula County Attorney Jennifer Clark, who has prosecuted several vehicular homicide cases in Missoula. “The more lenient sentences are often in line with what the victims wanted.” Judges considering sentences in alcohol-related vehicular homicide cases must also weigh factors such as the driver's prior convictions, the recklessness of the crime and whether the defendants show remorse for the crime. In 12 of the 25 cases, a judge recommended Corrections Department supervision, as opposed to prison time. There are five instances where none of a sentence was suspended. The shortest sentence is six years on probation; the longest is the maximum of 30 years in prison. The average age at the time of the offenses is just under 33 years. Read more. If link has expired, check the website of the article's original news source. |
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