Deardorff seeks sentence modification

SANDPOINT — A Washington state man who pleaded guilty to causing a fatal crash while driving drunk on U.S. Highway 95 claims he was denied his constitutional right to due process when he was sentenced.

William David Deardorff alleges the state did not comply with a plea agreement in his case and had ineffective defense counsel when he was handed a 10- to 15-year prison term for vehicular manslaughter and aggravated drunken driving.

Deardorff, 54, of Spokane, veered into oncoming traffic in Careywood on Dec. 3, 2008. His pickup truck crashed head-on into a Jeep Liberty carrying three people.

Kimberlee Rae Dingman, a 44-year-old from Sandpoint who was a front-seat passenger in the sport utility vehicle, was fatally injured. The Jeep’s driver, 32-year-old Crystal Bertolucci, was seriously injured. Bertolucci’s infant daughter was strapped into a car seat and escaped lasting physical injuries.

Deardorff entered into a written plea agreement which recommended a fixed prison term of eight years with the prospect of seven additional years, court documents indicate.

Deardorff filed a motion Monday asking the court to revise his sentence.

He accuses Bonner County Deputy Prosecutor Roger Hanlon of disregarding the sentence recommendations in the agreement and of disputing the existence of the agreement at his sentencing hearing.

However, Hanlon did not stray from the sentence recommendations in the agreement.

Moreover, Hanlon’s remarks regarding the agreement concerned the fact that there was no downward reduction in the charges in exchange for Deardorff’s pleas.

“There was no plea bargain that resulted in a modification of the charges,” Hanlon said during the Sept. 8 sentencing hearing.

Deardorff also faults Chief Deputy Public Defender Janet Whitney for declining to call three defense witnesses who would have testified that he had housing, employment and admittance to Veterans Affairs substance-abuse programs. Deardorff argues the testimony would have had a mitigating effect at sentencing.

Prior to sentencing, Whitney sought public funds to hire a specialist to outline mitigating factors in Deardorff’s case, but the court rejected the request and a subsequent request for reconsideration.

First District Judge Steve Verby declined to adopt the recommendations, citing Deardorff’s three prior drunken-driving convictions and other offenses.

Deardorff admits in court documents that a prison term is warranted, but argues prison treatment programs can be completed in as few as five years and adds that there are pharmaceutical therapies for treating chronic alcoholism.