By Derek Spellman
dspellman@joplinglobe.com
PINEVILLE, Mo. — The family of an Oklahoma man who was killed in a drunken-driving accident last year in Noel grudgingly accepted a plea agreement Wednesday that will send the driver to prison for 15 years.
Several family members had asked that Ricky Crase’s two 15-year prison sentences be served consecutively rather than concurrently as prescribed by the plea deal. Crase, of Collinsville, Okla., was drunk when he crashed his pickup truck on the Yarnell Branch bridge on Missouri Highway 90 in Noel on Aug. 31.
The wreck claimed the lives of his two passengers, Aaron Gillming and John Lackey, also of Collinsville.
Gillming’s mother, Brenda Montgomery, excoriated Crase during his sentencing hearing Wednesday morning in McDonald County Circuit Court. Crase, who has been in the McDonald County Jail since being extradited earlier this year from Oklahoma, where he was serving a prison sentence for arson, was in street clothes rather than an orange jumpsuit and shackles.
“It doesn’t matter, Ricky, if you wear that,” Montgomery said of his street clothes. “You are still what you are: a murderer. A double murderer. With no remorse. With no heart.”
‘A menace to society’
Crase’s criminal history includes several convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol, all in Oklahoma. Montgomery contended that Crase, 44, would be only 56 if he were released after serving the minimum requirement of a 15-year sentence. She also argued that his record showed he likely would offend again if released.
“He needs to be locked up forever,” Montgomery said. “He is a menace to society.”
The plea agreement with the McDonald County prosecutor’s office called for the 15-year sentences, along with a four-year sentence for driving while intoxicated as a persistent offender, all to be served concurrently.
Family members initially balked at the deal, although prosecutors said they feared that certain “procedural” aspects of the case posed risks either during the trial or for an appeal if they successfully secured a conviction.
McDonald County Prosecutor Janice Durbin said afterward that Crase himself on Feb. 4 had filed a request with McDonald County Circuit Clerk for a speedy trial. That happened while he was in prison in Oklahoma. The trial is to be convened within 180 days of such a request.
But Crase technically also was obligated to send a copy of that request to the McDonald County prosecutor’s office, Durbin said. She said Crase did not do so, and her office was unaware of Crase’s request until March 9, when it was advised by the court clerk’s office. Durbin then moved to extradite Crase to McDonald County.
“You never know what an appeals court” will decide, Durbin said, referring to questions about when exactly the 180-day deadline fell.
“Making plea offers is always a tactical decision,” she said.
Crase had entered his guilty plea Tuesday under the plea bargain. Circuit Judge Tim Perigo noted that the victims’ families were not present, and he adjourned the proceedings until Wednesday so the relatives could attend.
Montgomery said prosecutors also harbored concerns about the perceived credibility of Andrew Cummings, a former Noel police officer who investigated the crash and oversaw the collection of a blood sample that was taken while Crase was in a hospital just after the crash.
Cummings, who now is out of law enforcement, was placed on probation after pleading guilty last month to misdemeanor stealing in connection with a 2007 incident that happened while he was serving with the Pineville Police Department. Not long after that case was adjudicated, Cummings was charged with four separate felonies, including theft and property damage, stemming from separate incidents in November 2008.
“We had no other option,” Montgomery said of accepting the plea deal. She said the family was not happy with the deal, but that it at least ensured that Crase would spend time in prison. She said the family also feared Crase would “completely walk.’’
“We didn’t want that,” Montgomery said.
Durbin previously said Crase was charged with murder, as opposed to manslaughter, because he also committed the felonies of driving while his license was revoked and driving while intoxicated as a persistent offender.
Sleepless nights
Montgomery said Gillming, Lackey and Crase had gone to Noel for an Elk River rafting trip.
Crase on Wednesday said he could not recall how the crash happened, although he said he thought he “probably had six or eight (beers) all day” before he crashed the truck. Crase said Lackey and Gillming also had been drinking, and that they had drunk more than he had.
Montgomery challenged both of those statements later in the hearing, saying tests showed that Crase’s blood-alcohol content was more than three times the legal limit.
“Six or eight beers my butt,” she told him.
She also said she had her son’s toxicology report, which showed he was not intoxicated.
It was one of multiple times that Montgomery directly addressed Crase during almost an hour of personal testimony. Hugging framed photographs of her son, which she sometimes shouted for Crase to look at, she said the family had been devastated by the loss and haunted by the way in which her son died.
Montgomery said she has struggled to sleep and has been forced to take a new, part-time job that keeps her away from the public so “I can cry” and so “I don’t have people asking, ‘Why are you crying, Brenda?’”
Gillming’s father, Gary Gillming, who lives in Noel, wrote a statement that was read to the court by the prosecutor’s office.
“It’s 3:15 a.m. as I am putting this down,” Gary Gillming wrote. “Another night without sleep.”
Gary Gillming described how he had lost several relatives in Texas to a drunken driver, and “none of that holds a candle to losing my only son.”
In the letter, Gary Gillming recalled that after he learned of his son’s death, he went to the funeral home to see him a final time. An employee there recommended that he not do so, saying Aaron Gillming was “unrecognizable.”
Instead, Gary Gillming said, he held his son’s hand while the rest of the body lay beneath a sheet.
“All I could do is thank God for taking him quick,” he wrote.
Sheena Coberley, Montgomery’s daughter and Aaron Gillming’s sister, said it “feels like my insides are bleeding” ever since she lost her brother. Holidays, she told the court, have become agonizing. The family celebrated Thanksgiving by leaving a pie at Aaron Gillming’s grave, and Christmas with a small tree and fake presents around the headstone, she said.
“It’s now like I am half a person,” Coberley said of losing her brother.
The family had a group of supporters, including other relatives and members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving, at the hearing. Many wore buttons inlaid with a photograph of Aaron Gillming.
Montgomery said Aaron Gillming leaves behind a 5-year-old son, Ryder, who has been in counseling since the accident but has become withdrawn.
“I would give anything in the world to change places with Aaron,” she said before breaking down. “That’s because I loved my son. He deserved to be here.”
Background
According to court documents, Ricky Crase has four previous convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol between 1988 and 2007, all in Oklahoma. Crase also pleaded guilty to second-degree arson in March 2007 in Tulsa County, Okla. He initially was assessed a deferred sentence on the arson charge, and 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.
