Many folks in the Great Falls (Montana) community woke up Sunday morning September 25, 2011, and heard about a horrible accident that happened early in the morning at the Loading Zone bar.  As details emerged over the next few days, we found out that a driver plowed into the bar killing three people (Jeffrey Scott, Tony Hiatt, and Daigerrys Leon) and injuring two others.

With the case coming to a close and a sentence rendered last Friday, it’s time for me to offer my personal commentary.

A few days after the accident we found out the driver, Jason Rosander (33 years old), failed a field breathalyzer test and had a blood-alcohol level of .107.  He was drunk and operating a motor vehicle, but the main thing is that he murdered three people while operating his vehicle.

He claimed he had a “coughing fit,” and that is what caused the accident.

Rumors started flying around in early March 2012 about a possible plea deal of 15 years with 10 years suspended.  The rumors were true.  When I first heard about the deal, I was upset.  At that time I lost all faith and respect for Cascade County Attorney John Parker.  Parker failed to fight for justice and to fight for the victims.  Parker will never get my vote again.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think that a respectable State District Court Judge would agree to a sentence of 15 years with 10 years suspended, but District Court Judge Dirk Sandefur did just that.  He also tacked on $227,977 in restitution.  Judge Sandefur was the victims’ last hope for justice; he failed them miserably.

After reading the comments on several media websites and Facebook pages and seeing a non-scientific Great Falls Tribune poll where 68% disagreed with the sentence, I would offer a suggestion to the crop of judicial candidates running in 2012 for District Court Judge District 08 (Dept. 1) in Great Falls:  keep your campaign signs handy and, if you lose this campaign, plan on running for Sandefur’s seat as District Court Judge.  We also need candidates to run for Cascade County Attorney.  I no longer have faith in either man as County Attorney and State District Court Judge.  I don’t think the community does either.

The Great Falls Tribune reported, “Sandefur had a lengthy and stern rebuke for members of the public who criticized the county attorney’s office and his office in the wake of the agreement.”  He also spoke of “some alleged ‘old boy’ mentality” accusations.

I sure hope the Judge likes freedom of speech because that is what I am using here – he is free to call it criticism if he likes.

In regard to the “old boy” mentality, I found it interesting that neither of the two judges running for re-election this year (Julie Macek and Kenneth R. Neill) were assigned this case.  Maybe the Judges are looking out for one another thinking we (the voters) will forget about it before Sandefur comes up for reelection.  Fat chance.

While I fiercely disagree with the County Attorney Parker for allowing his Deputy County Attorney to make a plea deal and for Judge Sandefur for accepting the deal, that in no way condones any violence or threats against them.  That also includes violence or threats against Jason Rosander.  As someone who has had his life threatened while doing my job, I can tell you it is no fun.  Besides, we live in a society that can “throw the bums out” for making decisions that we disagree with – and that’s exactly what we should do when they are up for re-election.

Sandefur was quoted in the Great Falls Tribune saying, “this was not a clear drunk driving case.”  I beg to differ.  Rosander decided that night to drink.  He decided to drive to bars and he decided not to plan ahead and have a designated driver.  He was legally drunk before he had his coughing fit.  If he had been sober after the accident and used the coughing fit defense, we could have called it a tragedy and an accident.  But we have to call it what it really is: murder.

Montanans see too many plea deals or weak sentences for drunk drivers – especially for the ones who kill someone.  In Rosander’s case, his five year sentence equals a little over 1.6 years per each life that he took for being drunk behind the wheel.

That is certainly not justice.  Not at all.