Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 11, 1990 TAG: 9007110381
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B2 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: VICTORIA RATCLIFF STAFF WRITER
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 had prompted Community Hospital's infant car-seat loan program because Daniel Patrick Skaggs, the Skaggses' 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 on Tuesday 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 that he was driving the car only because his nephew was too ill to drive.
Erickson also faces about 15 years of his 20-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter if the Virginia Parole Board chooses to invoke that time.
He was served with a parole board warrant in court Tuesday, 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. Sept. 6, 1989.
Leach said Erickson had crossed the center line, weaving four times in the span of an eighth-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 he had been adjudicated a habitual offender, Leach said.
Prosecutors dropped the misdemeanor charge, and Erickson was indicted in the felony.
Leach said there was no indication that Erickson had been using alcohol the night Valentine stopped him.
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.
by CNB