EVERETT — In many ways, Brandon M. Jones has worked to turn his life around.
He’s taken up running to improve his fitness.
He’s attended AA meetings almost daily to keep his sobriety and to try to help others do the same.
He has helped his mom after his father died.
All his efforts at self improvement could not undo the seriousness of his crime.
On Tuesday, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge David Kurtz sentenced the Lake Stevens man to 2 1/2 years in prison for leaving the scene of a fatal car accident in December 2012. Jones was driving a silver Subaru sedan when it struck Kay Hyde-Donohue, 53, as she walked along the rural two-lane S Machias Road. Jones had been drinking. He told police afterward he thought he might have hit a deer.
Jones, 34, also has a 2004 drunken driving conviction. He faced a standard range sentence of 31 to 41 months in prison. He also was eligible for a first-time offender waiver, which could have resulted in 90 days or less in jail.
His defense attorney, Cassie Trueblood, urged the judge to consider the latter option.
Given the steps he has taken and progress he has made, prison would neither help with rehabilitation nor protect the community, she said. It only would serve as a punishment and he feels the pain of his actions, she said.
Jones said that he will “die with that sorrow” of taking a life.
The judge received a letter from the victim’s daughter who strongly opposed a light sentence.
“It absolutely stuns me that being a first-time offender, Brandon Jones has the possibility of serving no jail time for the crime he committed, especially given the circumstances,” Kayla Hyde wrote.
Kurtz agreed, saying it would be “just too disproportionate to the crime” to sentence Jones the 90-days-or-less option.
He handed down a 31-month sentence.
The judge then urged Jones to keep trying to take positive steps with his life.
“Nothing can make up for what has occurred, but you, sir, can have a good and constructive life,” he said.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
