Hit-and-run legislation change affects sentencing
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POLSON — When Ronan area resident Jami Sherman was killed in a hit-and-run along Leighton Road on July 1, 2006, there was no felony charge for leaving the scene of an accident when death or serious bodily injury occurred, according to Lake County Attorney Mitch Young.
The charge was a misdemeanor with only a one-year sentence.
Sherman’s parents fought hard to change that. They lobbied until former Republican Senator John Brueggeman, SD-6, introduced SB 322, a bill that provided for tougher penalties for hit-and-run cases. Governor Schweitzer signed the bill into law in April of 2007.
Now leaving the scene of an accident when death or serious bodily injury occurs is a felony charge that carries a mandatory five-year sentence.
It was under this new law that Jonas Buckman, 28, of Polson, was sentenced to the Department of Corrections for 10 years with five suspended for negligent vehicular assault, a felony. For the offense of accidents involving death or personal injury, a felony, Buckman was sentenced to the Department of Corrections for five years with all suspended. Buckman was sentenced for his involvement in a hit-and-run incident that occurred on Turtle Lake Road in the evening hours Nov. 25, 2009.
After hitting the 16-year-old girl, Buckman did not stop his vehicle but continued down Turtle Lake Road and turned into his driveway.
The victim was rushed by ambulance to St. Joseph Hospital and then transferred via LifeFlight to St. Patrick Hospital in Missoula.
“I remember all of it,” the girl, now 17, said.
She had the skin on the back of one of her legs scraped off, she said, sustained lacerations on her back and tore her anterior cruciate ligament. She was hospitalized for six weeks. After her hospital stay, she had seven surgeries, one of which was to treat an infection that developed.
Her last surgery was three days before Christmas of 2010. Although she will continue with physical therapy for another three months, she was able to walk without her leg brace as of Feb. 3. And though she’s missed a lot of school, the young girl is glad she’ll be able to graduate with her class in June and plans to attend beauty school.
The girl and her mother attended Buckman’s sentencing last month and seem to be satisfied that justice was served.
“Yeah, he got enough time,” the girl said.
