LAKEPORT, Calif. – A Kelseyville man received a 60-day jail sentence on Monday for a May 2013 drunk driving crash that seriously injured a bicyclist.
Judge Andrew Blum gave 20-year-old Steven Wayne Boatright the two-month sentence – along with three years of formal probation and restitution – for a single felony count of driving under the influence with a blood alcohol level of .08 or more and causing injury.
The California Highway Patrol arrested Boatright on May 18, 2013, after he hit Upper Lake resident Brian Pecknold, then age 64, on Blue Lakes Road.
The CHP report said that as Pecknold was making a left turn off of Blue Lakes Road onto Irvine Avenue, Boatright entered the intersection and hit the left side of the bike.
Pecknold was knocked to the ground and suffered a severely broken leg, according to Deputy District Attorney John Langan.
Boatright admitted to smoking marijuana before the crash, and also had a blood alcohol level of 0.87, Langan said.
Langan had asked for a sentence of up to 180 days in jail in the case, but the Probation Department proposed 60 days.
The District Attorney's Office also originally had alleged a great bodily injury charge that could have brought prison time on conviction, but ended up dropping it due, in part, to Boatright's youth and lack of criminal record, Langan said.
Pecknold also didn't want that more serious charge pursued against Boatright, Langan added.
Boatright's defense attorney, Lisa Proffitt, said her client had expressed remorse for the crash and admitted he should have not have been drinking while under age and should not have been driving.
However, Blum questioned that assessment after reading a letter Boatright submitted to the court.
“His letter doesn't sound remorseful. His letter blames the victim,” said Blum.
Reading from Boatright's letter, Blum focused in on one particular passage that referred to Pecknold. “'If anything, he is as guilty as I am.'”
Statements in court by Proffitt indicated that Boatright believed Pecknold made an “unsafe turning movement.”
Turning his attention to Boatright, Blum asked, “So, are you blaming the victim for this?”
“No sir, your honor, I'm not,” Boatright responded.
Blum didn't appear convinced, and while reading over the sentence proposed by the Probation Department, noted, “If anything this should be higher than 60 days.”
However, he said he would go along with the proposed sentence.
As part of the Monday hearing, Langan – with Pecknold's permission – had obtained Pecknold's medical records and submitted them into the court record.
Langan said the records showed that Pecknold was not under the influence of any substance – alcohol, prescription or illegal drugs – when he was on the bike ride that ended with the crash.
Blum ordered Boatright to report to the Probation Department this week and to turn himself in at the Lake County Jail on the morning of July 3 in order to begin serving his sentence.
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