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West Virginia man sentenced in fatal I-79 crash that killed sheriff's office sergeant
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A West Virginia man will spend at least 25 years in state prison for drunkenly slamming into a sheriff's deputy during an interstate police chase that ended on I-79 at Mount Morris last February.
Jerod Green, 36, of Morgantown was found guilty of third-degree murder, homicide by vehicle while DUI, fleeing or attempting to elude police and two counts of DUI. Sgt. Todd May, deputy with the Monongalia County Sheriff's Department, was killed in the crash.
Green will spend between 25 and 50 years in prison with an opportunity for parole after his first 25 years are served, according to Greene County district attorney Marjorie Fox.
Ms. Fox called Green's conduct "egregious," noting that he was traveling nearly 100 mph and had a blood alcohol level more than twice the Pennsylvania legal limit at the time of the crash.
The jury acquitted Green of first-degree murder, rejecting Ms. Fox's argument that he committed a "deliberate act of murder."
But they convicted Green of third-degree murder, a charge that involves "extreme indifference" to human life.
Torsten Ove contributed
First Published February 19, 2013 3:11 pm
