EVERETT — Even after he escaped a prison sentence for causing the 2014 crash that killed a Stanwood teen, Alex Chilelli asked to spend the weekend at home before reporting to jail.
Chilelli, 21, told his attorney he wanted the time to say goodbye to his parents before he started serving three months in jail. Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Richard Okrent denied the request Thursday. Chilelli could have a few minutes before the marshals took him away.
Nicole Wiebe’s family watched as the young man hugged his parents.
Wiebe was killed Feb. 16, 2014, when Chilelli lost control of his 1992 Lexus and crashed into a tree in the Arlington Heights area. The car contorted in a C-shape with the back passenger side taking the brunt of the crash. Wiebe, 18, was riding in the back seat. She suffered brain injuries and died at the scene.
Detectives estimated that Chilelli was driving at least 70 mph. When he was asked why, Chilelli replied, “It was fun,” according to court papers.
“It was probably much closer to 90 to 100 (mph),” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Tobin Darrow said Thursday. “What the defendant was doing was using the car as a toy.”
Darrow asked the judge to send Chilelli to prison for 18 months. He’d already been shown leniency when the charge was amended, Darrow said.
The deputy prosecutor charged Chilelli last year with vehicular homicide, alleging that the Arlington man’s reckless actions caused Wiebe’s death. Chilelli was allowed to plead guilty in March under the theory that he disregarded the safety of others.
That reduced the potential maximum sentence by about seven months. Under the law, it also allowed Chilelli to be eligible for a first-time offender waiver. Wiebe’s family encouraged the deputy prosecutor to amend the charge and supported the waiver. They told Darrow they didn’t want to see Chilelli go to prison.
Wiebe’s father told Okrent on Thursday that his daughter was a compassionate and caring girl who believed in fighting for the underdog. He didn’t believe that she would support locking Chilelli up “for them goofing off.” Community service is a more appropriate punishment, Larry Wiebe said.
“I believe that Alex is very sorry for what happened,” he said.
Chilelli, a student at Western Washington University, made a tearful apology.
“If I could take it back, I would,” he said.
His defense attorney Mark Mestel urged the judge to follow the wishes of the victim’s family. They have been charitable and gracious, he said. This is more about them than Chilelli and his family, Mestel said.
“There will always be a knot in his stomach,” the defense attorney said. He’ll always know that if it wasn’t for him, Wiebe would be alive.
The young man also is a convicted felon.
Sending him to prison will not deter other drivers, Mestel said. He, Wiebe and the other young man in the car all agreed to speed over a hill to catch some air. It was a maneuver they’d done in the past, Mestel said.
Okrent said he was tasked with balancing the needs of the state to protect its citizens and the wishes of the victim’s family. He granted the waiver and sentenced Chilelli to three months in the county jail.
“I can’t bring Nicole Wiebe back. I can’t undo the guilt the defendant must feel. I can’t ignore the state’s duty to protect the community,” Okrent said. “You made a choice to play with that car.”
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com. Twitter: @dianahefley.
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