Driver in Pettigrew fatality sentened to 1 year in prison, prosecution asked for 5

Most of the media outlets have picked this up.

Christy Littleford, who was found guilty of leaving the scene of an accident after the September 2010 crash that killed Natasha Pettigrew dead, received a 4-year sentence, but Judge John P. Davey suspended three years of it. Littleford will spend 364 days behind bars.

Littleford, her family and the family of Pettigrew, a Green Party candidate for Senate, all cried in the courtroom as Judge Davey handed down the sentence. She told the court she was "truly sorry" for what happened.

She also gets one year probation, is ordered to pay a $1,500 fine and complete 240 hours of community service.

And here

As family members from both sides watched, Christy Littleford, 43, was taken out of a Prince George’s County Circuit courtroom in handcuffs, her sentence slated to begin immediately. Minutes earlier, her family members and friends tearfully pleaded that Judge John Davey look on her with mercy, arguing that she did not mean to hit 30-year-old Natasha Pettigrew.

I don't think anyone is arguing that she meant to hit Pettigrew. That it's an accident isn't relevant to the charges.

Prosecutors had asked that Littleford, who was convicted in May of failing to remain at the scene of an accident involving a death, along with other counts, be sentenced, effectively, to five years in prison. Assistant State’s Attorney Kirstin Statesman argued that after Littleford hit Pettigrew in September 2010, she dragged the third-year law student and Green Party candidate’s bike nearly three miles from the scene of the crash on Route 202 to her home nearby. Littleford never called 911, Statesman said, instead returning to the scene and going to the hospital before reporting the incident at a Prince George’s police station.

Speaking briefly on her own behalf, Littleford apologized to Pettigrew’s family. “I, too, suffer every single day,” she said.

“I don’t sleep. I don’t eat. My life is just upside down right now,” she said.

Davey, the judge, ultimately delivered the year-long sentence, along with fines and probation, predicting it would make neither side happy. He said that he believed Littleford did not intend to hit Pettigrew — and noted there was no evidence of drug or alcohol use — but said he found it “hard to believe” she did not realize she was dragging a bike. Maryland sentencing guidelines called for a term between four months and four years, Davey said.

After the hearing, Henry, who had left the courtroom during the defendant’s testimony, approached Littleford’s family members and told them she was “so sorry for your loss.” She said afterward that there were no winners.

WTOP meanwhile, proves it can read minds.

A woman who kept driving after she thought she hit a deer, but actually hit and killed a cyclist, was sentenced on Friday.

She says she thought she hit a deer, but I think that is somewhat in question.

“It is important for drivers to pay attention when they are driving,” said Deputy State’s Attorney Donnell Turner. “And further, if you believe that you have hit something or someone, it is imperative that you remain on the scene of the accident.”

Considering that the driver had no prior arrests or indications that she was not a reckless driver, and that she turned herself in eventually, I'm Ok with going lenient on the hit and run part of it. Maybe she really didn't know what happened and, in shock, acted weirdly.

But she hit someone she should have seen, and so the punishment should fit that part of the crime. Based on what I've seen in other cases, this is probably a reasonable sentence.

Comments

[Mike]

bullshit on this being a "reasonable sentence." compared to what?

is it reasonable the dc jailed is filled with poor unedcuated black men?.. pleeeeeezzzze....

explain your reasoning here. please dont use the toxic judicial system as your guide...

this woman deserves to serve her DEMOCRATIC nation through service for a long period to try and make amends for what she did...it was not intentional, and then she panicked.

i can think of many good examples of pentinence she should undertake, for years -- but JAIL? why? this culture is ass-backward moronic and medieval...retributive punishment -- which is what her sentence is -- is simply barbaric at this stage of human development...

what theory of human responsibility is at work here?...cause the idiots in the stste attorneys have no clue (go to harvards center for law and the brain, to begin to get a clue...)

i cant wait to see how the corrections "department" will "correct" her...

[Sarah Hagstrom]

Has anybody mentioned whether or not Littleford's drivers license has been permanently revoked? It seems abundantly clear to me she should never be allowed behind the wheel again, but I'm pessimistic given the lack of an explicit mention of this in the article, and given how insanely hard it is to lose your license in the U.S.

[Ian Brett Cooper]

I agree with Sarah. People who kill while driving should be banned from driving for life. Driving a motor vehicle is a privilege, not a right, and if you do it so badly that you kill someone, the privilege should be revoked.

[washcycle]

Mike, well, retributive punishment is certainly one part of it. But there is also the deterrence element to it - others will be dissuaded from behaving the same way - and the rehabilitation. The idea would be that jail would cause her to be a more cautious driver in the future.

I agree that we need massive prison and corrections reform. But that isn't a reason to not follow the laws we currently have.

Also, I'm giving you a warning now. It's time to cut out the profanity. It's time to stop using multiple aliases. Choose one name and stick with it. I won't warn you again. I'll just start deleting your comments.

[Brendan]

I expected a suspended sentence. One year in jail is a pleasant surprise. I'd like if her community service could be converted into hours of supervised riding a bike in traffic. That will reform her understanding of things more than a year shuffling around a jail.

The screwy thing? She's being punished for leaving the scene in about the most horrific unreasonable way possible with the bike wedged and dragged under her car. Can you imagine the impact and the noise of that? Yet she kept driving. Meanwhile, we all get stuck in traffic when two dummies have a fender bender in broad daylight with injury or damage, but in that case they're happy to sit in the middle of the road waiting for the CSI to show up I suppose.

Maybe the consistent thread in those two extremes is our concern more for property than life. That's messed up.

[Brendan]

edit: withOUT injury or damage.

[darren]

+1 Sarah Hagstrom. Fines and confinement is secondary. Ms Littleford has proven herself incapable of driving, in the worst way possible. The system needs to first guarantee she never gets behind the wheel again.

[Jim T]

License revocation could have been part of the terms of a plea agreement but there was no plea. There is a separate civil law under which MVA may choose to revoke a license, but I have not really studied the matter.

If someone has a few hours to look into this, please drop me a line and I help can get you started. Press credentials would probably help, I am looking into whether MDOT recognizes Patch as the press.

[Ren]

Another "thought I hit a deer."

http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2012/aug/03/4/hit-and-run-suspect-had-record-of-driving-infracti-ar-2107317/

When this first happened, there was speculation that perhaps she had not been the one driving. Anything further on that?

[washcycle]

I haven't heard anything about it. But I think she was at a friend's house until early that morning, and that the friend can verify that.

I've actually come to believe her story, though I suspect she's leaving something out - like how she never saw Pettigrew. But I wouldn't say I 100% believe her. I'd put the odds slightly above even that she thought she hit a deer and didn't realize that she hadn't until she saw the bike. But I wouldn't be too surprised if she knew she hit someone, freaked out and then later came to her senses and started trying to contact the police. But there is no evidence of the latter.

Still, we can't allow that to be an acceptable response. It creates a moral hazard if we let people - even ones who are being honest - get away with a hit and run because they thought they hit a deer. We need to get the word out that when you think you hit a deer, you have an obligation to get 100% confirmation of that before going on your way.