A teenager driver in Colorado was recently accused of colliding with a car at an intersection in Boulder. The accident resulted in the deaths of two people in the car that was struck. He recently pleaded guilty to DUI and vehicular homicide (two counts). The guilty plea was entered in juvenile court on a Friday.
The 18-year-old teen said in court that, before the collision took place, he had smoked some marijuana. At the time of the crash, he had reportedly fallen asleep behind the wheel. The man claimed that he was rushing to get home prior to his midnight curfew when the collision took place. The two people in the car that he struck, ages 39 and 30, suffered critical injuries and were transported to the hospital. Both died shortly after being taken off of life support.
Authorities said they discovered following the crash that the teen’s system had quadruple the legal limit of THC in it. The man faces as many as two years behind bars on the charge of vehicular homicide. Under his plea deal, he would serve his sentence for vehicular homicide concurrently with whatever sentence he is given for DUI.
When an individual in Colorado is charged with DUI, he or she has the right to proceed to trial to contest the charges. As an alternative, the defendant may choose to seek to negotiate a plea deal with the prosecution. A plea deal could offer the benefit of a lighter charge and/or a lighter sentence than what may be imposed following a finding of guilt at trial.
Source: dailycamera.com, “‘I fell asleep’: Boulder teen pleads guilty to vehicular homicide, DUI in crash that killed 2“, Mitchell Byars, Dec. 16, 2016