Posted on 08/06/2002 1:10:11 PM PDT by JennysCool
After more than 70 convictions, Nampan gets life for I-84 crash
Judge: Defendant shows no hope for rehabilitation
Darin Oswald / The Idaho Statesman
A Nampa man will spend the rest of his life in prison for causing a crash on Interstate 84 in which a Caldwell firefighter lost part of his leg and his mother-in-law almost lost her life.
Kenneth Michael Workman, 48, was sentenced Monday to life without parole as a persistent violator by 4th District Judge Deborah Bail.
On Oct. 13, firefighter Anthony Barton and Diane King were between their two parked vehicles on the shoulder of Interstate 84 near Meridian, securing a load, when Workman´s pickup veered off the roadway.
It hit one of the parked vehicles and smashed into Barton and King, police said. Barton lost the lower part of his right leg in the accident. King was thrown into a westbound lane, breaking almost every bone in her body and rupturing several organs.
Workman previously admitted to a 30-year drug addiction. He has been convicted more than 70 times in Oregon, Idaho and Washington on felonies and misdemeanors from drug use and possession to burglary, driving while under the influence, and driving without insurance or a license, deputy prosecutor Jan Bennetts said.
Workman had been released from prison three months before the accident. He had served out a felony drug sentence after refusing to go into rehabilitation, Bennetts said.
The prosecution had asked for a sentence of life with 25 years fixed.
Workman´s attorney, D.C. Carr, said he could only ask the court for mercy.
In sentencing, Bail said her highest priority must be to protect the public from Workman.
“This defendant shows no potential for rehabilitation,” Bail said.
“This helps us kind of finish everything off,” Barton said after the hearing.
Barton said his family is extremely pleased with the sentence.
“I think justice was served,” King said.
Kimberly Barton, Anthony´s wife, said it has been difficult to watch her husband suffer and to see her mother in constant pain and wonder if it will ever subside.
“My husband is still not walking, and every day of our lives, we´re in pain,” Kimberly Barton said. “It´s been a complete shattering of our lives.”
Larry King, Diane King´s husband, said his wife can´t reach over her head, climb stairs or walk farther than across a room without tiring.
“She´s scarred from head to toe,” he said.
She´s paranoid of traffic and becomes upset when she sees cars on the side of the road, he said. She can´t work.
“He´s turned all of our lives into a basket case,” Larry King said of Workman.
Anthony Barton asked the judge to imagine being in his position — to wake up to find his right leg gone, to spend eight weeks in a hospital, to endure about 20 surgeries and to wonder if his left leg can be saved.
“I can´t just pop out of bed,” he said.
Barton said he can´t stand yet because of the nerve damage in his left leg. And, if he does get the use of the leg back, he will have to have surgery every 10 to 15 years to replace a vein.
He still hopes with another surgery and therapy he can become a hose man, a firefighter who pulls the hoses from the fire truck and carries them into the burning building.
“How many more chances is this guy going to have?” Barton asked. “Hopefully, the justice system won´t fail us this time. I hope this time, he´s put away for good.”
At the time of the accident, Workman tested positive for codeine, methamphetamine and a residue of heroin.
A doctor testified Monday that the amount of meth found in Workman´s system was 10 times that of a normal dosage.
He said the mixture of heroin, a depressant, and methamphetamine, a stimulant, can create enhanced euphoria and hallucinations; they do not counteract each other.
Throughout the hearing, Workman lowered his head. In his statement, he asked for the family´s forgiveness.
“I didn´t mean for this to happen,” he said.
“You may not have meant for this to happen, but you set your life up in such a way that this was the result,” Bail said. “You had the power to keep this from happening.”
To offer story ideas or comments, contact Sandra Forester sforester@idahostatesman.com or 377-6447
Eventually, one starts to wonder about the culpability of a judge who knowingly releases a 69th-time offender back to the streets.
Or the nature of the laws that are being enforced. It's rather interesting that someone who had been convicted so many times, in this age of mandatory minimum sentences, was still able to get out on the streets. IMO, they need to replace the mandatory minimums with much greater sentencing latitude, so hard-core offenders spend the the rest of their days behind bars. 70 strikes and you're out is more than a bit much...
Yessir. The WOD is BS. Your home is your castle, but the highway isn't. Get wrecked in your home--its ok by me; get wrecked and in a car-wreck, it is not. The issue is personal responsibility, which the nanny state can't provide. The laws should operate to discourage harm to others.
The scum that did this deserves life in prison. I'm glad our hometown judge did have the sense to lock him up for good. I'm betting the reason this doper was out was that his conviction total was probably 68 misdemeanors and 2 felonies. Still no excuse for this piece of trash.
And who knows how much other misery he caused during those many years.
Nine cents of lead in the back of the head immediately upon conviction would be o.k. with me and save the taxpayer a great deal of money!
Soon to be fourteen cents in California.
Maybe the nickel per round tax can be used to enroll judges in a mandatory course in common sense.
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