THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, November 24, 1994 TAG: 9411240623
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ROBERT LITTLE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
A 23-year-old West Virginia man was sentenced Wednesday to seven years in prison for causing a fatal car wreck while driving drunk.
Police said witnesses to the June 5, 1993, accident alleged that Charles E. Sanson was driving as fast as 100 mph when his car crashed head-on into a pickup, killing his passenger, 22-year-old John A. Bundy Jr. of Corapeake, N.C.
Laboratory tests showed Sanson had a 0.17 percent blood alcohol level, more than twice the current legal limit.
The driver of the pickup survived but was permanently disabled with a smashed heel.
Sanson, of Webster County, W.Va., made a tearful apology to members of Bundy's family Wednesday in Suffolk Circuit Court.
``I'll never get over this,'' he told them. I live with nightmares every night.''
But Judge Westbrook J. Parker dismissed Sanson's apology, saying: ``We see that all the time in here.
``No remorse has been shown . . . until today,'' Parker said just before passing sentence.
``You've got to understand that the accident was your fault, and that the drinking was your fault.''
Parker sentenced Sanson to 20 years for aggravated involuntary manslaughter, then suspended all but six years.
For driving under the influence of alcohol, Parker ordered the maximum one-year sentence.
Sanson, who was a sailor aboard the Navy salvage ship Hoist at Little Creek Naval Amphibious Base, said he hadn't apologized to Bundy's family previously because his commander ordered him not to.
Family members said Sanson planned to make the Navy a career but quit in fear that his arrest would result in a dishonorable discharge.
Sanson has maintained that he had control of his 1989 Pontiac Trans-Am the night of the accident, which occurred on Carolina Road in southern Suffolk, but that Bundy grabbed the wheel and swerved into the oncoming truck.
Sanson had never been convicted of any other crimes, including traffic offenses.
Sanson's attorney asked Parker for a suspended sentence and community service, while prosecutor F. Jefferson James called for the maximum - 21 years in prison.
``There are probably five people . . . who I feel sorry for in this case,'' said James, citing Sanson's wife and young daughter and members of Bundy's family.
``But,'' James continued, pointing to Sanson, ``I do not feel one shred of sorrow for him.''
KEYWORDS: DRUNKEN DRIVING MURDER TRIAL FATALITY
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