Minutes after Katie Summers beat and killed a 31-year-old moped, she didn’t stop to help him or call 911.
She made a U-turn and parked in a nearby parcel, but did not contact the police when they arrived.
Due to her negligence, Judge Alex Extrom of the Benton County Superior Court ordered the two mothers, 31 years old, to be sentenced to two years and two months, which is the upper limit of the state’s judgment.
“MS. In the summer of August 21, 2018, you killed a man. I did this, ignoring my duty as a driver.” “You didn’t do this intentionally. You did this recklessly, but you killed him. And when you drive the car, you’re probably dead. You knew. “
The verdict came Thursday morning after a long imprisonment from Leo Bireta’s family and a plea of tears from Summers and her sister for generosity in front of a crowded courtroom in both families. rice field.
Deputy Prosecutor Andrew Clark called for the maximum end of Washington’s range of judgment in two years and three months.
Summers lawyer Brian Roach sought an alternative parenting decision to allow him to live with his two children, or an exemption from the first offender for up to three months.
More than three years after the crash, Summers ignored safety and pleaded guilty to the murder of a vehicle in January and hit and run the injured.
A video obtained by Kennewick police showed that Summers was drinking at a sushi restaurant before driving that night, but her blood alcohol levels at the time of the crash due to delayed blood sample collection. Could not be proved. Prosecutor.
The moped headlights turned on, and when Summers turned left in front of the Bill Eta moped, the yellow arrow was flashing to give it to the oncoming vehicle.
Summers stopped a short distance away and she walked back and forth outside the pickup. She returned to the truck, headed north on Edison, made a U-turn, and parked behind a super supplement store in Albertson’s parking lot near the intersection.
She later told Kennewick police that she called her boyfriend instead of 911 and didn’t go to help the dying restaurant worker. She was also seen throwing a trash bag into a nearby trash can.
According to court documents, police officers recovered a bag containing an empty container of marijuana products and a bag with the Summers name on both magazines and business cards.
When police found her about 11 minutes after the crash, she smelled alcohol, but according to documents, no field drinking tests were conducted at that time.
It took another four hours for blood samples to be taken to measure alcohol and marijuana in her system.
In this bill, her blood alcohol level is .06%, just below the legal limit.
Summers drinking was not part of the allegations, but Extrom pointed it out as part of a series of circumstances surrounding the crash.
He said she didn’t call 911, and she stopped and didn’t talk to them while she was on the scene when the police arrived.
“You rated his life … less than your concern that your boyfriend would get angry with you about the internal condition of your truck,” Ekstrom said.
Grief family
Bireta’s family and friends described the young daughter’s father as a broad-minded man who would be happy to carry a shirt on his back to a stranger in need.
His loss confused their family, his fiance was lost, and his friends were confused.
“My life was destroyed on August 21st,” his fiancé Rachel Juarez said Thursday. “There are such holes in our lives, so we don’t know how to proceed.”
Juarez finally saw Bill Eta alive and said he would leave the house and come back soon. The next time she met him was at his funeral.
After dying at the age of 31, she lost the opportunity to become a husband and had more children, she said.
“He will always be my husband, my guardian, my friend,” she said. “He was everything to me. He was my life.”
She describes the past three and a half years as living hell, passing through the intersection of Clearwater Avenue and Edison Street, and often wondering what his last thoughts are.
She advised Summers that she would eventually move on. And she could have taken her responsibility many years ago.
Elizabeth Liston described herself as Bireta’s best friend and said she saw the scene that night hoping that her friend wasn’t involved in the crash.
“I was supposed to be the one who married Leo and Rachel. I was set to be able to help people like Leo I loved and Rachel he loved,” she says. I did. “Instead, I had to give his compliment.”
Two mothers
Summers lawyers said people on social media portrayed her as a privileged and ruthless murderer, but she refused to escape the scene or neglect her responsibilities.
At the time, Summers was a fitness trainer and wellness coach with thousands of Instagram followers, and was featured in fitness magazines and websites after losing over £ 100.
Roach said he had been drinking alcohol in the restaurant for an hour and 45 minutes, but police only noticed that she smelled like alcohol.
She also told people that she didn’t go far when she left the scene, she was just moving her car.
“She doesn’t even get out of sight of the actual north-facing intersection,” Roach claimed.
Summers’ sister Ashley Nelson said her sister was a good mother who fought to give birth to two children after a medical problem. And years of court struggle have exhausted her and her partner financially and emotionally.
Nelson said they were sad for Bireta and his family.
“For the last few years, I’ve seen my sister completely disband under the sadness of this tragic accident,” Nelson said. “She has her pain and sorrow very deeply.”
Summers, who spoke in tears, apologized for the pain she caused, saying the two families knelt in the accident.
She said she made a judicial deal so that the punishment was directed at her rather than others.
“Know that Leo’s life is important to me and that night’s turn is the moment my world stopped,” she said.
“This burden of sadness is what I expect to carry every moment forever,” she said.