By Derek Spellman

dspellman@joplinglobe.com

PINEVILLE, Mo. — The mother of an Oklahoma man who allegedly was killed by a drunken driver last year in Noel says she wants the driver assessed the maximum sentence if he is convicted.

Hugging a photograph of her late son, Brenda Montgomery joined other family members in watching Ricky Crase undergo his preliminary hearing Wednesday afternoon in the Associate Division of McDonald County Circuit Court.

Crase, 44, already had several convictions for drunken driving before he was charged with two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Montgomery’s son, 28-year-old Aaron Gillming, and his friend John Lackey.

In addition to the two murder charges, Crase, of Collinsville, Okla., is charged with driving while intoxicated as a persistent offender and with operating a motor vehicle while his license was revoked in connection with the Aug. 31 crash that claimed the lives of Gillming and Lackey. Both men also were from Collinsville. A ruling on whether Crase will stand trial on those charges is expected next week.

Crase was driving a truck in which the other two men were passengers when the vehicle crashed on the Yarnell Branch bridge on Highway 90 in Noel, according to court documents.

Each murder charge carries a sentence of 10 to 30 years in prison or life imprisonment upon conviction.

Maximum

“I want the maximum sentence,” Montgomery said after Crase’s hearing Wednesday. “I want him to be punished for taking the lives of two innocent men, one of which is my son, my only son.”

McDonald County prosecutors said Crase was charged with murder, as opposed to manslaughter, because he allegedly committed the two felonies of driving while his license was revoked and driving while intoxicated.

The lone witness called during the hearing Wednesday was Andrew Cummings, a former Noel deputy marshal who responded to the accident.

Cummings recounted that when he arrived at the scene, Gillming and Lackey apparently were already deceased, while the driver was still conscious. He said a blood sample was drawn from Crase while he was at Freeman Hospital West in Joplin.

After Cummings’ testimony, Assistant Prosecutor Sherrie Hansen introduced into evidence information about Crase’s previous convictions for driving while intoxicated.

Associate Judge John LePage said he would take the evidence under advisement for one week, and then rule on whether Crase should be bound over for trial.

Families

Several of Crase’s family members attended the hearing. His parents, who repeatedly declined to give their first names and would identify themselves only as Mr. and Mrs. Crase or as “mom and dad,” said they were sorry for what happened and that it was an accident. His mother told the Globe that Crase “wouldn’t intentionally hurt anybody.”

The couple declined to comment beyond those statements.

Montgomery previously told the Globe that Gillming, Lackey and Crase had gone to Noel for an Elk River rafting trip. Gillming was a friend of Lackey’s, who knew Crase through the latter’s plumbing business. Gillming was unaware of Crase’s past, Montgomery said.

That past, according to court documents, includes four previous convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol: in June 1988 in Tulsa, Okla.; in October 1999 in Owasso, Okla.; in April 2006 in Tulsa County; and in August 2007 in Rogers County, Okla. Crase also pleaded guilty to second-degree arson in March 2007 in Tulsa County, according to McDonald County court records.

Crase was assessed suspended sentences of one year and three years on the 2006 and 2007 DUI charges, respectively, according to Oklahoma’s online court records. Information about the outcome of the 1988 and 1999 cases was unavailable Wednesday.

Crase initially was assessed a deferred sentence on the arson charge, although Tulsa County prosecutors moved to revoke his probation in July 2008. Crase was free on bond at the time of the August accident, and two months later was assessed a five-year prison sentence. He was extradited to McDonald County earlier this year.

“He was not going to stop,” Montgomery said Wednesday. “He had no intention of stopping.”

She carried a photograph of Gillming and his son, Braden “Ryder” Gillming, now 5, during Wednesday’s court proceedings. She said her whole family has suffered a loss.

“He (Aaron Gillming) shot off the fireworks every Fourth of July,” Montgomery said, noting this would be the first year he would not.





Blood-alcohol level?

Assistant Prosecutor Sherrie Hansen said after the hearing Wednesday that she would not yet disclose what Ricky Crase’s blood-alcohol level was at the time of the accident.