A plea agreement which gave a repeat drunk driver who struck a motorcycle less than a year in jail was actually a victory for prosecutors, according to District Attorney General Lisa Zavogiannis, who says even with a conviction he would have likely served less time.
“It was a good resolution,” said Zavogiannis. “We were pleased with the outcome.”
The driver, Timothy Alan Tate, 50, entered guilty pleas to charges of vehicular assault and tampering with evidence. He was ordered by Circuit Court Judge Bart Stanley to serve 360 days of a 10-year sentence, pay $5,646 to the state criminal injuries compensation fund, make restitution to both victims and lose his driver license.
The remaining 14 charges against him, including crimes such as fourth-offense DUI, failure to render aid, leaving the scene of an accident with injury, reckless endangerment, failure to yield, and failure to report an accident, were dismissed as part of the plea bargain.
“The DUI actually merges with the vehicular assault and the vehicular assaults are both Class D felonies,” Zavogiannis explained, noting getting him to plead guilty to both vehicular assaults and running them consecutively was something that likely would not have been accomplished following a trial. “That gets him on paper for 10 years and had he been convicted, he would have been looking at three to six years concurrent, and that would have likely meant he would serve less than the 360 days we got.”
Sentencing at the low range of the three- to six-year sentence would have landed him 10.8 months in jail, while a step up to a four-year sentence would have landed him a slightly longer, 14.4 months behind bars, based on release after serving 30 percent, which is standard for range-one offenders such as Tate.
It is not known if there would have been enough enhancing factors to raise him from three to four years during sentencing following a conviction. The vehicular assault charges carry two to four years, one step lower than the evidence tampering charge to which he also entered guilty pleas.
His charges were brought after he pulled his Nissan into the path of an oncoming motorcycle driven by Wade Sims in front of Newtown Foodland on Nashville Highway. The impact ejected Sims and his passenger Cathy Watkins. They were seriously injured and underwent extensive treatments for their injuries.
Tate then fled the scene despite the fact the two injured victims were lying on the pavement. He was linked to the accident by an eyewitness who followed his vehicle.
It was later learned Tate has a drunk driving history dating back to 1990 involving three prior drunk driving convictions. Police say he appeared to have been drinking before this accident, although the fourth-offense DUI charge was dropped.
Zavogiannis said another good point of the plea is Tate has been ordered to make restitution to both victims, including helping to pay for Watkins’ medical bills and Sims’ motorcycle.
“We were able to get some money from the victim’s fund to help her pay for her medical bills,” Zavogiannis said, noting Tate will now be required to pay back the fund for the money it paid out to help the victim.