Driver in deadly crash pleads guilty
SANDPOINT — A Washington state man pleaded guilty Thursday to causing a fiery crash on U.S. Highway 95 which claimed one woman’s life and seriously injured another person.
William David Deardorff’s pleas to felony vehicular manslaughter and aggravated drunken driving head off a five-day jury trial that was set to start in 1st District Court on Monday.
“Guilty, your honor,” Deardorff responded when Judge Steve Verby asked how he was pleading to each of the charges.
Verby accepted the pleas as knowing and voluntary.
A sentencing hearing is set for July 21.
Deardorff remains held at the Bonner County Jail with bail set at $300,000.
The state and defense have agreed to recommend eight- to 15-year prison sentences on each of the charges. The maximum punishment for either offense is 15 years, according to court documents.
Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Roger Hanlon told Verby he would further recommend that the sentences be served concurrently rather than consecutively.
“That’s the only limitation,” Hanlon told the court.
Deardorff, a 53-year-old Spokane resident, was charged following a Dec. 3, 2008, head-on collision on U.S. Highway 95 in Careywood.
Kimberlee R. Dingman, 44, was fatally injured in the crash and Crystal Bertolucci, 31, was seriously injured. Both are Bonner County residents.
Idaho State Police say Deardorff was southbound in a Chevrolet pickup truck when he veered into oncoming northbound traffic and collided with a Jeep Cherokee driven by Bertolucci. Dingman was a front-seat passenger in Bertolucci’s sport utility vehicle. Bertolucci’s infant daughter was strapped in a safety seat in the back of the SUV and survived the collision.
Deardorff was also injured in the collision.
State police forensic lab results indicated Deardorff had 0.12 grams of ethyl alcohol per 100 cubic centimeters of blood, well over the legal limit of 0.08.
“I am guilty and I must be held accountable for this terrible tragedy I have caused,” Deardorff said in his written guilty plea.