Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, February 26, 1992 TAG: 9202260164
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
10 YEARS GIVEN IN 2 DUI DEATHS
A man who was driving drunk the night he slammed into an oncoming car, killing a Roanoke County woman and her 17-year-old daughter, was sentenced Tuesday to 10 years in prison.Keith Charles McCrickard, 23, received the sentence in Roanoke County Circuit Court.
Last month, McCrickard pleaded no contest to two charges of involuntary manslaughter involving the deaths of Betty J. Stanley, 51, and her daughter Elizabeth, a freshman at Roanoke College.
The Stanleys were killed Sept. 7 on Starkey Road when their station wagon was hit head-on by McCrickard's car, which was speeding around a blind curve in the wrong lane.
Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Bill Broadhurst had asked for a maximum 20-year sentence, pointing to an earlier drunken-driving conviction against McCrickard and to his failure to address his drinking problem.
Testimony has shown that shortly before the accident, a drunken McCrickard was staggering and slurring his speech so much that a convenience-store clerk refused to sell him a third 12-pack of beer that night.
Tests determined that McCrickard had a blood-alcohol content of nearly 0.15 percent. The legal limit is 0.10 percent.
Broadhurst called it a "worst case scenario" that called out for severe punishment.
But McCrickard's attorney, Deborah Caldwell-Bono, said her client repeatedly has expressed his remorse for an accident that he cannot even remember.
"He has to this day said that he wished he could trade shoes with the Stanleys," she said.
Although it was not raised as part of the criminal case against him, a civil lawsuit brought by the Stanleys' family has alleged that McCrickard was racing another car when the accident happened.
Judge Kenneth Trabue gave McCrickard an additional 10-year suspended sentence, placed him on probation upon his release, and order that he receive treatment and counseling. McCrickard will be eligible for parole after he serves about 2 1/2 years, Broadhurst said.
Keywords:
FATALITY