Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, September 16, 1993 TAG: 9309160160
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By LAURENCE HAMMACK STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Jimmy Doss's driving record was so bad he had been banned from the roads for 10 years, but that didn't stop him from driving - drunk, again - in October.
Shannon Nicole Doss was thrown from the car and killed when Doss ran off the side of a Henry County highway. She was the first of four people in the Roanoke region to be killed in less than a year by drivers with suspended or revoked licenses.
Doss, who pleaded guilty in July to manslaughter and driving after being declared a habitual offender, received the seven-year sentence from Henry County Circuit Judge David Williams.
Commonwealth's Attorney Robert Bushnell had asked for the maximum sentence of 15 years.
Bushnell cited Doss's "absolutely terrible record," which includes four drunken-driving convictions.
"He's gone almost 20 years being a law unto himself," Bushnell said. "He did what he wanted to do. . . . If he was drunk and felt like driving, he drove."
But the victim's mother asked that Doss, 35, be spared a prison sentence. Danita Doss may have lost her daughter in the accident, she said, but she didn't want to lose her husband in its aftermath.
She and another relative testified that Doss's remorse is enough punishment, and that he is needed to help raise another daughter.
"He's got a sentence in his heart and on his mind for the rest of his life, so why throw him in jail?" Doss said after an earlier court hearing.
Jimmy Doss testified that he has cut down on his drinking since the accident, but has not quit completely, Bushnell said.
According to earlier testimony, the accident happened about 5:30 p.m. Oct. 30 as Doss was driving north on U.S. 220 near Bassett Forks. With him in the car were his two daughters, his wife and a friend.
He lost control on an uphill curve and ran off the road, overturning the car and causing Shannon Doss to be thrown from the car out of a window.
When police arrived, Doss admitted he was drunk and responsible for his daughter's death. Tests found his blood-alcohol content to be 0.19 percent - nearly twice the legal limit.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB