Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, November 19, 1994 TAG: 9411210043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A repeat drunken driver who had 16 beers before a July 24 head-on crash that killed a Roanoke Valley real estate agent in Ohio was convicted of two minor driving offenses Friday, a verdict that could send him to jail for no longer than one year.
After a two-day trial, a jury in Ohio Common Pleas Court found Matthew A. Schultz of Circleville, Ohio, guilty of negligent vehicular homicide and driving under the influence in the death of Ilse-Marie Morgan, 54. Each misdemeanor charge carries a maximum of six months in jail under Ohio law.
"Can you believe it? Six months - six months and a $1,000 fine - for killing my mother. It's just a slap in the face," said Morgan's daughter, Michelle Dalton. She and her sister, Angela Sumner, went to Ohio for the trial.
The 27-year-old construction worker also had been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, a felony that carries a prison term of up to 10 years. But the jury, which deliberated about two hours, found him innocent of that charge, opting instead for a guilty verdict on the lesser offenses.
The more serious charge requires the state to prove that Schultz was driving recklessly, rather than merely negligently, said prosecutor Randy Knece.
Sentencing was scheduled for Nov. 28. Knece said the judge is researching whether he can impose the sentences consecutively, which would keep Schultz in jail for a full year with no parole.
Schultz's license will be suspended for life, Knece said.
The 9 a.m. accident occurred on a Sunday along a rural, two-lane highway just west of Circleville, a farming community about 30 miles south of Columbus.
Morgan, 54, a longtime agent with Boone & Co. Realtors, was returning to Virginia with her fiance, Chris Kidd, after visiting his sister in Ohio.
She was driving her Datsun sports coupe east on Ohio Route 56; Schultz was westbound. His truck veered into her lane and hit her car, sending it careening into a roadside ditch. His truck flipped before righting itself.
Morgan was pronounced dead at the scene. Kidd, in the passenger's seat, suffered only a scratch. Schultz was uninjured.
The trial began Thursday. Testimony showed that Schultz's blood-alcohol level was 0.17 percent shortly after the accident, far beyond the threshold drunken-driving level in Ohio of 0.10. According to his statement to police - which was introduced at trial - he admitted drinking 16 beers only hours before the accident.
Blood tests also revealed that Schultz had cocaine residue in his system at the time of the offense, Knece said. But Ohio law bars that evidence from a trial, so the jury never heard it.
Schultz did not testify and his attorney, James Kingsley, did not call any witnesses. Instead, Kingsley picked away at the prosecution's case, arguing that Shultz's actions were not reckless.
"How much more reckless can you get?" Dalton asked.
Schultz's Ohio driving record, which also could not be introduced at trial, shows a litany of convictions dating from 1985 for speeding, running a red light, failing to control his vehicle and driving with a suspended license. He was convicted of driving under the influence in 1987, for which he received a three-month license suspension.
A native of Germany, Morgan was a popular and hard-working agent who had lived in the Roanoke Valley since 1977. She usually sold more than $2 million worth of real estate annually, making her one of Boone & Co.'s top residential sales agents.
She and Kidd were to have been married in Germany in September.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB