Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 10, 1990 TAG: 9007100564
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: VICTORIA RATCLIFF Salem bureau
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Erickson, 29, pleaded no contest in May in Roanoke County Circuit Court to driving last fall after his driving record was determined to be bad enough to declare him a habitual offender.
The offense occurred a year after Erickson had been paroled from prison for the involuntary manslaughter deaths of Dennis and Linda Lou Skaggs, who died in a head-on collision.
The accident prompted Community Hospital's infant car-seat loan program because Daniel Patrick Skaggs, the Skaggs' 14-month-old son, was sitting in a child restraint seat and survived the crash with only hairline fractures in both legs. Linda Lou Skaggs was a nurse at the hospital.
Erickson, who has been convicted of 11 other traffic violations including drunken driving, also was sentenced to a year in prison for possession of methamphetamine during the accident that killed the Skaggses.
He spent just over four years in prison and was paroled in July 1988.
In April 1986, a Botetourt County judge took Erickson's driver's license for 10 years after his driving record was determined to be bad enough to declare him a habitual offender.
Roanoke County Chief Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Randy Leach asked Circuit Judge Kenneth Trabue today to consider Erickson's driving history and sentence him to three years in prison. But Erickson's attorney, Bob Rider, argued that it was Erickson's first offense of driving as a habitual offender.
Erickson faced up to five years in prison on the charge.
Erickson testified today that he was driving the car only because his cousin was ill and could not drive, Leach said.
Erickson also faces about 15 years of his 20-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter in the Skaggs' deaths, if the Virginia Parole Board chooses to invoke that time, according to parole officials in Roanoke.
He was served with a parole board warrant in court today, Leach said.
According to a May summary of the evidence against Erickson:
Roanoke County Deputy T.D. Valentine stopped Erickson in a 1977 pickup truck on the Blue Ridge Parkway about 12:30 a.m. on Sept. 6, 1989, Leach said.
Valentine stopped Erickson for driving erratically, Leach said. Erickson had crossed the center line, weaving four times in the span of an eighth of a mile, he said.
When Valentine asked to see Erickson's driver's license, Erickson told him it was suspended, Leach said. Erickson also told the officer he was driving erratically because he was sick, he said.
Valentine charged Erickson with the misdemeanor of driving on a suspended driver's license. But further check of driving records showed that he had been adjudicated a habitual offender, Leach said.
Prosecutors dropped the misdemeanor charge against Erickson, and he was indicted in the felony.
Leach said there was no indication that Erickson had been using alcohol the night Valentine stopped him.
When Erickson pleaded guilty to possession of amphetamines after the accident in which the Skaggses were killed, he told Bedford County Circuit Court Judge William Sweeney that he had made a resolve "to stay away from alcohol. It has caused me nothing but trouble. I'm sorry . . . But there's no way I can bring Mr. and Mrs. Skaggs back by saying I'm sorry."
Erickson did not speak in court today other than to answer questions from the judge about whether he had freely decided to plead no contest.
Dennis Skaggs, 28, and his wife, Linda Lou, 33, were killed July 3, 1983, when a station wagon driven by Erickson crashed into their Volkswagen van on Virginia 24 east of Stewartsville. Linda Lou Skaggs was nine months pregnant.
Erickson's blood-alcohol content, taken about an hour after the crash, was 0.0988 percent - lower than the 0.10 level at which a driver is presumed legally drunk in Virginia.
Erickson recently had completed a Virginia Alcohol Safety Action Program class before the July crash and had a string of other traffic violations.
The first occurred in 1977, the year after Erickson received his driver's license.
A Roanoke Circuit Court judge upheld three other driving convictions against Erickson several months after he was convicted in the Skaggs' deaths. Those included leaving the scene of an accident, drunken driving and driving with a suspended license.
***CORRECTION***
Published correction ran on July 11, 1990 in the evening edition.\ Correction
Because of inaccurate information provided the newspaper, a passenger in the car of Nathan Max Erickson, who was sentenced to a year for driving after having been adjudicated a habitual offender, was mistakenly identified as Erickson's cousin in a news story Tuesday. The passenger actually was his nephew.
Memo: correction