We’ve all seen accidents on the freeway. When they happen on your side, traffic comes to a complete stop. When they happen on the side going in the opposite direction, traffic slows because of all the people looking at the accident.
This accident was a worst-case scenario. An accident involving a school bus caused traffic to stop. Unaware of the accident was a 24-year-old man driving a truck and trailer hauling lumber. Moments before seeing the stopped traffic, and after having traversed down a mountain, the driver realized his brakes were failing.
As he saw the traffic jam ahead, he changed lanes to avoid an accident—passing by a runaway truck exit. His speed approached 100mph as he bobbed and weaved through the traffic, passing exit after exit until the fatal accident occurred.
He crashed into 12 cars and three trucks with trailers like his. Vehicles burst into flames—one trailer carried mattresses which fueled the fire. It took the responding fire equipment almost five hours to extinguish the fires. Four people died.
The day after the crash, the authorities arrested the truck driver. They tested him for alcohol, drugs, and chemicals. He passed all tests. Once he paid bail to be released, the court allowed him to await trial in his home state.
The jury found him guilty on four counts of vehicular homicide, six counts of first-degree assault, ten counts of attempted first-degree assault, four counts of careless driving causing death, two counts of vehicular assault and one count of reckless driving.
The judge regrettably, but by law, had to sentence the truck driver to the mandatory-minimum sentence of 110-years in prison (mandatory-minimum establish in the 1990s to be tough-on-crime). In the state where the accident occurred, as a part of the tough-on-crime reform, sentences for violent crimes must run consecutively rather than concurrently, which results in a longer sentence. First-degree assault and attempted first-degree assault are considered violent crimes. At the sentencing, the judge said,
“If I had the discretion, if I thought I had the discretion, I would not run those sentences consecutively.”
At the time of the sentencing, a district attorney associated with the trial, said she welcomed a reconsideration of the prison term.
The power of social media fueled a movement to fight for a lesser term for the truck driver. Organizations who help wrongly punished and excessively punished people got involved. Truckers boycotted the state and refuse to drive anything into or out of the state until the court corrected the sentencing travesty.
The same district attorney mentioned above filed a motion to lower the sentence to 20-30 years. Before the court addressed her motion, the protests made it to the Governor’s office. Change.org submitted a petition with over four million signatures asking the governor for clemency or commutation. In a letter to the sentenced truck driver, the Governor said in part,
“The length of your 110-year sentence is simply not commensurate with your actions.”
The Governor then commuted his sentence to ten years in prison eligible for early parole.
Was the sentenced reduced because of the public outcry or because it was the right thing to do? Perhaps the state needs to reassess their sentencing protocols. What do you think?
Source: ABC News, NBC News, The Denver Post, Desert News, Wikipedia, The Denver Legal Team
All data and information provided is for information and research purposes only and not intended to malign any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, or individual. Criminal cases may have been appealed or verdicts overturned since I researched the case. All information is provided on an as-is basis.
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