Sponsor |  FreqWiz | Mar 19, 2007 1:25pm | PITTSBURGH, Pennsylvania (AP) -- A man pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter for failing to properly hitch a wood-chipper to his truck in an accident that killed a man and two of his young triplets.
Bradley Demitras was scheduled to stand trial Monday but struck a deal with prosecutors instead. He pleaded guilty to three counts of involuntary manslaughter and one count of reckless endangerment.
"He's had a very hard time with this case, as I have, as everyone involved has," said his attorney, Patrick Thomassey. "We wanted to spare the family and everyone involved from the rigors of a trial."
Demitras did not properly hook up the chipper to his truck's hitch, causing it to break loose and strike a van April 13, prosecutors said.
Spencer Morrison, 37, and 4-year-olds Alaina and Garrett were killed. A third triplet, Ethan was critically injured, but survived.
No guilty plea or conviction "could ever relieve our pain or satisfy our anger," Morrison's widow, Nicole, said in a news release. But the plea allows Demitras to take responsibility "while sparing our family the nightmare of reliving the details of that horrific day through a public trial."
Allegheny County Judge Lester Nauhaus indicated Demitras faces a maximum possible prison term of 17 years and three months. Demitras also pleaded guilty to several lesser traffic violations.
Sentencing is set for May 22.
cnn.com/2007/LAW/03/19/chipper.plea.ap/index.html [cnn.com/2007/LAW/03/19/chipper.plea.ap/index.html]
Ok I am gong to have to take the side of the truck driver on this one. I am sure his insurance paid the family a healthy sum, the guy I am sure was pretty shook up about what has happened, it looks to me like he is taking full responsibility, for what has happened, so for you to go after him for what is clearly an accident, seem wrong to me.
Now mind you I do not know the whole story, if the guy had priors of faulty equipment, or stuff like that, then I would say throw the book at him, but I do not see that here. I see a man, which made a mistake, which caused an accident, that he seems remorseful for being raked over the coals. |
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