Most defendants who appear before Snohomish County Superior Court Judge James Allendoerfer really don’t have a future, the jurist said Tuesday.
Lisa Ann Dassinger, 30, of Lynnwood is an exception.
Nonetheless, he had no choice under state law but to sentence her to 41/2 years in prison for causing an Aug. 4 traffic accident that killed Chad Aldridge.
Dassinger, 30, of Lynnwood had been driving drunk when her 2002 Nissan Sentra left an I-5 offramp and overturned. Her passenger, Aldridge, was ejected from the car and died from his injuries.
She pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in May.
The judge sentenced her to the low end of the sentencing range – 55 months. The range was two years longer for Dassinger than some other vehicular homicide defendants because she had a 2002 conviction for drunken driving, deputy prosecutor Joan Cavagnaro said.
Dassinger has worked more than four years for a veterinary clinic, and has been responsible in most ways, the judge was told.
Allendoerfer told her, “You have a future, and that’s so often not true” for the criminal defendants he sees.
The victim’s mother, Donna McCoy of Portland, Ore., asked the judge to be lenient. She said she didn’t know Dassinger before her son’s death, but she has since gotten to know her as an intelligent and talented person.
“Lisa is a very special young woman,” McCoy said. “Lisa has become a dear friend of mine, and this is a loss for me, too. I don’t know how many more losses I can take.”
McCoy blamed the curve that Dassinger failed to negotiate, not Dassinger, for her son’s death. “That accident could have happened cold sober,” she said.
Aldridge’s father, Eddie Aldridge, concluded that prison wouldn’t be any more punishment than what Dassinger has already experienced.
“It’s an accident she has to live with for the rest of her life,” Aldridge told the judge.
Defense lawyer Royce Ferguson of Everett told the judge that Dassinger is a hard worker and deserved the low end of the sentencing range. A diminutive woman, Ferguson said her small stature might have had much to do with her getting drunk after a few drinks.
Dassinger apologized to Aldridge’s parents and took full responsibility.
“I know I made a bad choice,” she said. “I’ve learned a lot over the last year. I’ve learned that you should never think that it won’t happen to you.”
Reporter Jim Haley: 425-339-3447 or haley@heraldnet.com.
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