The families of two teenagers killed in a Ransomville car crash quashed a defense effort today to win a plea deal that could have seen the driver serve about a year in prison.
Parents of the victims said after a 40-minute meeting with Niagara County District Attorney Michael J. Violante and Deputy District Attorney Theodore A. Brenner that they had been promised the plea offer to John O. Schmitz Jr. won't be softened without their consent.
Defense attorney Sunil Bakshi said an accident investigation report from a Clarence firm he hired resulted in a finding that Schmitz' car was traveling no more than 75 mph when it ran off Youngstown-Lockport Road on Sept. 25 and struck several trees.
Schmitz, 19, of Porter Center Road, is under indictment on two counts of second-degree manslaughter, a charge that requires a jury to find his conduct was reckless and that he knew death might result from it.
Back seat passengers Jeremy Campbell, 19, of Youngstown, and Taylor Messing, 17, of Niagara Falls, died in the crash. Two other passengers, one in the front and one in the back, survived.
Kat Messing, Taylor Messing's mother, said a Niagara County Sheriff's Office accident investigation concluded that Schmitz' Chrysler Concorde was traveling 113 mph at the time of impact, and might have been going as fast as 120 mph on the road.
Bakshi said his report from CrashMetrix, the Clarence firm, set the car's top speed at 75 mph, which is still 20 mph above the posted speed limit.
"I guess it would be up to a jury to decide if that's reckless," Bakshi said.
But he did say he would talk to Schmitz about whether he is interested in the original plea offer Brenner announced in court May 23: two counts of attempted second-degree manslaughter, each of which would carry maximum sentences of 2 1/3 to seven years. The sentences for the two counts could be consecutive but wouldn't have to be, Bakshi said.
The accident occurred at 12:30 p.m. as Schmitz swerved to avoid a car ahead of him that was stopped in traffic, waiting to make a left turn into a driveway.
Investigators ruled out alcohol or drugs as factors, but they did charge him with speeding and inadequate brakes.
The case was rescheduled for July 25. Brenner said the case can't go to trial until at least January, because a key police witness, Town of Niagara Patrolman Gary Beatty, is on military duty in Afghanistan until then.
At any rate, Messing and Cindy Barnes and Doug Smith, who are Jeremy Campbell's parents, said prosecutors informed them that Bakshi, armed with the new crash report, was seeking a chance for Schmitz to plead guilty to criminally negligent homicide, a Class E felony with a maximum sentence of 1 1/3 to four years in prison.
Messing said Violante and Brenner were not trying to sell them on the lower plea.
"The defense wanted an E. It was totally up to us," Messing said. "I think trying to say John Schmitz was driving at 75 mph was a joke."
Bakshi asserted, "It negates culpability on the indicted offenses."
Messing said, "I don't think [the Class E charge] is justifiable for what happened to our children."
Smith said, "They don't get to have their cake and eat it this time."
He said the families already had agreed to let Brenner offer the Class D felony pleas instead of going to trial on the original indictment, which involves two counts that could bring consecutive sentences of as long as 15 years each.
"I think they're just playing around with it, just throwing the ball back and forth," Barnes said.
The new court date is the day before Messing, a member of the Army National Guard, leaves for military training prior to an overseas deployment of her own. She has said she wanted the case settled before leaving the country.
"I was one of the two who got into the vehicle [after the crash]. I had belongings of two people to recover. Personally, I'm surprised anybody survived," said Messing, who said one of the survivors was Taylor's second cousin.
tprohaska@buffnews.comnull
No comments:
Post a Comment