Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, November 29, 1994                   TAG: 9411290115
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: DAN CASEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

OHIO DRIVER GETS 1 YEAR IN FATAL CRASH

Matthew A. Schultz of Circleville, Ohio, also was ordered to pay a $2,000 fine in the death of Ilse-Marie Morgan. And Ohio Common Pleas Court Judge William Ammer barred the 27-year-old construction worker from ever holding an Ohio driver's license again.

Schultz was convicted Nov. 18 of negligent vehicular homicide and driving under the influence - two misdemeanors - in Morgan's death. The accident occurred about 9 a.m. July 24 along a rural two-lane highway about 30 miles south of Columbus.

The popular real estate agent was returning to Roanoke with her fiance, Chris Kidd, after a visit with his sister in Ohio. Kidd received only a scratch in the wreck, and Schultz was uninjured. Morgan was pronounced dead at the scene.

Evidence showed Schultz's blood alcohol level was 0.17 shortly after the wreck; the threshold drunken driving level is 0.10 in Ohio. Schultz had told police he drank 16 beers only hours before the accident.

Schultz, whose driving record at the time of the accident contained a litany of speeding and other minor traffic convictions, had one previous drunken-driving conviction. He also had traces of cocaine in his body shortly after the accident, according to prosecutor Randy Knece.

In Morgan's death, he also had been charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, a felony that could have sent him to prison for up to 10 years.

But the jury, which never heard the evidence of Schultz's previous driving convictions or the drug test, found him innocent of that charge, opting for the lesser charges. The maximum sentence for each in Ohio is six months in jail. Ammer imposed them consecutively.

After the sentencing Monday, one of Morgan's two daughters said she hopes the year in jail will prevent Schultz from ever drinking and driving again.

"I feel good that he's in jail right now, that justice has finally been served - even though it's not long enough," said Angela Sumner.

"To a court's eyes, my mother's life was worth only six months. And that's just insane. In our eyes, she was worth so much more than that," Sumner said.

Keywords:
FATALITY