State lawmaker wants longer sentences for drunken-driving deaths

OLYMPIA — Citing this month's sentencing of a drunken driver who fled the country after a fatal crash, one state lawmaker hopes to lengthen prison stays for people who cause deaths and injuries while driving under the influence.

Rep. Chris Hurst, D-Enumclaw, wants to mandate consecutive sentences for assault and homicide convictions stemming from drug- and alcohol-related vehicle crashes.

Should the bill become law, people convicted on multiple counts of vehicular assault or vehicular homicide would have to serve the sentences for each crime back-to-back, instead of at the same time.

Hurst, a retired police detective, said he was spurred by the case of Frederick Russell, who fled from Washington to Ireland in 2001 to avoid charges that he killed three Washington State University students and injured three others in a drunken driving wreck.

Russell eventually was placed on the U.S. Marshals Service's Most Wanted list and captured. He was convicted in November of three counts of vehicular homicide and three counts of vehicular assault, and was sentenced earlier this month to 14 years and three months in prison.

But Hurst, a former police detective, said that's far too short a sentence for someone responsible for three deaths. Under Hurst's proposed changes, Russell would have served three consecutive 14-year prison terms, the lawmaker said.

"You shouldn't get two or three deaths for the price of one," Hurst said.

The father of one of Russell's victims agreed the sentencing law should be changed, but said he would favor more leeway for judges to decide whether they should impose consecutive prison terms.

Rich Morrow of Seattle, whose daughter Stacy was killed in the crash, said he's not satisfied with the length of Russell's sentence or the requirement that such sentences be served concurrently.

Russell's 14 years and three months is the maximum under state law, but with potential reductions for good behavior, that "barely sneaks into the fair zone," Morrow said.

Morrow said, however, that he's not sure justice would be served by having the 29-year-old Russell in prison for more than 40 years. In cases where consecutive sentences might be warranted, Morrow said he'd prefer to leave that up to a judge.

"What about his life? What about the cost to the public? ... You lay waste to the whole rest of it if you say, 'Throw him in jail and throw away the key,"' Morrow said. "If this was an intentional murder, I would feel different."

Hurst, vice chairman of the House's Public Safety Committee, didn't predict his chances of getting the bill passed during the Legislature's short election-year session. But he said it deserves a chance to be voted on.

"If it saves one person's life, hey — it's certainly worth the Legislature's consideration," Hurst said.

Francisco Duarte, a lawyer who specializes in drunken driving cases and defended Russell at trial, said Hurst's bill was unnecessary. Current sentencing law already allows for sentences to be lengthened in case of multiple convictions, and that happened in Russell's case, Duarte said.

"If the Legislature wants to make a difference and wants to reduce the number of DUI-related fatalities in the state of Washington, they should change their focus and implement laws that keep people from getting into their cars after drinking alcohol in the first place," Duarte said.