Drunken driver guilty in deadly W.Va. crash
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Repeat drunken driver Brian J. Stone stood with his hands folded, showing no emotion, as a jury convicted him Friday of causing an accident that killed five people and injured seven others last year.
Behind him, families of the victims held hands and wept as they listened to the jury announce its verdict after a few hours of deliberation.
"I'm happy, but I'm so sad," said Marcia Perry of Middletown, Conn., whose husband, Donnell, 52, and teenage daughters Jacquesha and Jentil died in the fiery July 8 collision on Interstate 68 near Morgantown.
"I keep wondering, why did he do it⢠Why did he take my family away?"
Monongalia County Circuit Judge Russell Clawges Jr. will sentence Stone, 33, of Cheat Lake at a later date on 25 counts, including charges related to driving under the influence of alcohol, recklessly causing death, recklessly causing injury and leaving the scene of an accident involving death or injury.
Under state law, the most serious offenses of recklessly causing death while driving drunk carry penalties of up to 10 years in prison for each count.
Testimony during the four-day trial revealed that Stone had a blood alcohol level of 0.23 percent at the time of the crash, nearly three times the state's legal limit.
Witnesses said Stone's Ford pickup was traveling about 80 mph when it forced a car driven by Courtney Evans, 30, of Baltimore off the highway, through the grassy divider and into the path of the Perry family's sport utility vehicle.
Evans and his son, Sawyer, 12, were killed in the violent impact. His wife, Sheena, and son, John, were injured. Marcia Perry; her daughter, Justine, and three grandchildren, Cory and Aynna Perry and Mia Barnes, also suffered extensive injuries in the crash that spread over 800 feet of highway.
"The verdict was rather swift and well done, and they delivered justice to the defendant and the victims," said Marcia Ashdown, who prosecuted the case along with her assistant, Perri DeChristopher.
Stone's court-appointed attorney, Kevin Tipton, declined comment after the verdict. In his closing argument to the jury, he maintained that while his client was guilty of driving drunk, Stone did nothing reckless or illegal to cause the crash. He argued that Stone walked away after rolling his truck because he was unaware the other vehicles were involved.
Tipton said Stone may have lost control of his truck because of a blown tire. But once outside the courtroom, he told two of Stone's relatives that the state had "too much evidence" against his client.
Ashdown called Stone's defense "laughable." She told the jury of six men and six women that Stone's theory of why the crash occurred was manufactured "in his drunken state of mind."
Sheena Evans, wiping her red-rimmed eyes, said it has been difficult to watch Stone because "he has shown no remorse for anything he has done."
Stone, whose license had been suspended in West Virginia as the result of a prior conviction, was driving on a Pennsylvania license when the wreck occurred, authorities said. He faces additional charges in Pennsylvania for allegedly lying on his license application.
Records show he has a 10-year history of drunken-driving offenses.
Donnie Evans said the verdict can do nothing to bring his son and grandson back. What it will do, he said, is save other families from similar heartache because a prison sentence will prevent Stone from driving again.
"He will not be out there to take someone's life, to make some other family feel the way we feel," Evans said.
