A Wisconsin man who ran his car into a group of motorists received an eight year sentence recently. The man was found responsible for a fatal car accident that claimed the lives of two men and injured numerous others. Their families say the sentence is not proportionate to the crime.
The man was driving to visit a friend when his vehicle crossed the center line. He crashed into a group of 12 motorcyclists who were touring the state. Nearly everyone in the group was affected. Two men were killed, and two other men suffered critical injuries that are still infringing upon their daily lives. Five others suffered less serious injuries, and two were not hurt.
The man pleaded no contest to murder charges and logged Alford pleas to three counts of reckless injury in the second degree. An Alford plea is an admission that enough evidence is present to indicate guilt, though it stops short of actually admitting the crime. In this case, they referenced the critical injuries suffered by three of the men with whom the man collided.
The man received a sentence of three years apiece for the two men who died. Two years were added for the men who were critically injured. He was also sentenced to spend seven years on probation following his release from a Wisconsin prison.
Friends and family members of the men who died or were injured say the sentence was “minimal” and did not sufficiently punish the man for his actions. They say their lives have been irrevocably changed by this fatal car accident. They retain the right to pursue wrongful death or personal injury lawsuits, as the case may be, to seek to hold the man financially accountable for his actions and hopefully give them the means to continue healing.
Source: Fond du Lac Reporter, Lovelace gets 8 years in prison for crash with Michigan cyclists, Laurie Ritger, Feb. 7, 2014
