ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, March 22, 1996 TAG: 9603220082
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: FREDERICKSBURG
SOURCE: Associated Press
An 18-year-old who killed two girls and left a third paralyzed while driving drunk will pay for the accident the rest of his life under a highly unusual plea agreement that received final state approval Thursday.
Jeffrey Jones must pay the injured girl 15 percent of his lifetime earnings, no matter how much he makes or how long he lives.
Sentencing experts and defense attorneys said the arrangement appears to be a first.
``This is not getting off easy,'' said Herbert Hoelter, director of the National Center on Institutions and Alternatives, which works with judges and prosecutors to suggest creative punishments. ``This is a lifetime sentence on that man.''
Jones was driving home from his older sister's wedding reception last summer when he flipped his car on a winding country road in Stafford County. The accident killed his 15-year-old sister, Julie, and his girlfriend, 18-year-old Erika Tamayo.
Another friend, Molly Gill, then 15, suffered a spinal injury that left her paralyzed below the shoulders.
Gill's medical bills already exceed $300,000, and it is unclear how much insurance will cover.
She declined to comment Thursday.
Her father, Thomas Gill, said the family saw no benefit in sending Jones to prison. The family cooperated with prosecutors to fashion the lifetime restitution provision, he said.
``Our family is not, let's say, vindictive or want to see bad things happen for Jeff Jones or his family,'' Gill said. ``This has the potential of sending a strong community message of doing something for Jeff that's going to be constructive and also for Molly.''
Several participants in the plea arrangement said it reflects a belief that no punishment could be worse than the guilt Jones carries. He has suffered emotional problems since the accident and sobbed uncontrollably at the sight of Molly Gill leaving the courtroom in her wheelchair at an earlier hearing.
She has talked with Jones since the accident, and is prepared for the lifelong bond that his guilty plea forges between them, her father said.
Jones and his parents did not immediately return a telephone message left at the family's Stafford County home Thursday.
Jones pleaded guilty last month to two counts of involuntary manslaughter. A Circuit Court judge suspended a 10-year prison term. Jones also must perform 300 hours of community service and get substance-abuse counseling. He cannot drive for at least two years.
He faced up to 20 years in prison if the case went to trial.
The plea deal needed approval from a state program that monitors probationers. That approval came Thursday.
Hoelter said he'd never seen anything like the plea deal before. He said his 18-year-old organization has helped broker similar sentences for people convicted of embezzlement or other financial crimes, but never for personal injury.
James A.H. Bell, a Knoxville, Tenn., lawyer and board member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, said drivers are sometimes sentenced to pay some of their victims' bills. He did not know of a previous instance of an open-ended, lifetime arrangement.
``Every time he draws a dollar he's going to be sending 15 cents to this young lady's care and support,'' Bell said. ``That makes sense to me, because it's forever going to be on his mind, and she's forever going to be in a wheelchair.''
Circuit Judge William Ledbetter said he initially had reservations about accepting a deal that didn't include prison time.
``That was bothersome. That could send the wrong message,'' Ledbetter said Thursday. ``But on balance, I came around and considered this plea agreement and accepted it.''
Molly Gill spent nearly five months at a rehabilitation hospital in Charlottesville after the accident. She has learned to power her electric wheelchair but is not expected to walk again.
``That would be a miracle. There is nothing medically to indicate that that could happen,'' her father said.
She hopes to return to her regular classroom soon. For now, she uses a special voice-activated computer to continue her schoolwork, her father said.
LENGTH: Medium: 85 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP file/1996. Jeffrey Jones\His victim gets 15 percentby CNBof all he earns - all his life. color. KEYWORDS: FATALITY