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Thirty-year sentence too much for sad mistake

By GREG HAMILTON
Published September 18, 2005

It is not very often that average, law-abiding citizens sitting at home reading about a criminal trial can picture themselves in the defendant's place. This is one of those times.

William Thornton was driving an unfamiliar vehicle on an unfamiliar road late one night last December when he crested a hill and came quickly upon a stop sign. He was going too fast and slammed on the brakes, but not in time to keep from skidding through the intersection and into State Road 44.

At that exact moment, a Chevy Blazer was passing by and plowed into Thornton's car. The two people in the Blazer, Brandon L. Mushlit and his girlfriend Sara Jo Williams, were thrown from the vehicle. Neither was wearing a seat belt and both died at the scene. Thornton, though injured, survived.

Subsequent investigations determined that Mushlit, the driver of the Blazer, had a blood-alcohol level nearly twice the legal limit. Police also found cocaine residue in the SUV.

Thornton had no alcohol or drugs in his system. Nor did he have a valid driver's license. He also had no criminal offenses in his past.

Following the accident, county workers went to the scene and erected a sign warning drivers approaching the hill that there is a stop sign on the other side. The warning, however, came much too late to help Thornton, Mushlit or Williams.

This was the sort of tragic accident that could happen to any one of us. We all have seen drivers blow through stop signs and red lights, sometimes talking on cell phones or twisting the knobs on a stereo. We have been able to take evasive action to prevent a collision.

In this case, Thornton tried to stop in time, but could not. Mushlit was incapacitated to some extent by the alcohol in his system and was unable to avoid the crash. The only person truly without blame was Sara Jo Williams.

Thornton was charged with two counts each of vehicular homicide and driving without a license. Last month, he pleaded no contest and, in effect, threw himself on the mercy of the court. On Friday, he stood before Circuit Judge Ric Howard to find out just what sort of sentence, or mercy, the judge would mete out.

Perhaps his attorney should have warned him against such a maneuver, given Howard's growing reputation for harsh sentences, but Thornton's timing was dreadful. His case was caught in a shuffle at the Public Defender's Office, and his attorney on Friday was new to the case.

Before a courtroom packed with family members of all three of the accident participants, Thornton heard his fate.

The 18-year-old will spend the next 30 years in a state prison cell.

Let that sink in: 30 years.

My son is 17, the same age as Thornton when the accident occurred. I'm 48, the same age that Thornton will be if he serves the entire term. I think back to my life at 17 and all that has happened until now and realize just what this sentence means to this young man.

The teenager from Oxford in Sumter County, who was attending high school and still managing to work 35 hours a week scrubbing semis at a Wildwood truck stop, will be a middle-aged man the next time he tastes freedom.

Let's be crystal clear on this. Two young people are dead. By all accounts, these were hard-working young people with bright futures before them. Their families will grieve their loss forever, while Thornton is alive and his family can speak to him, albeit from opposite sides of prison bars.

Thornton clearly was in the wrong that December night, but he was not the only one at fault. After all, he was not the impaired driver in the accident.

Howard chose to give Thornton the maximum sentence, a punishment intended for those who are truly a menace to society, evil people who by their actions have forfeited their right to live among the general public.

In no manipulation of the facts of this case does Thornton qualify as such a monster. In fact, a representative from the State Department of Agriculture was in court on Friday to tell Howard that Thornton was tailor-made for a detention and rehabilitation program his agency offers to youthful offenders.

Howard would have none of it.

The teenager will go to prison. His life is effectively over.

If the sentence is appealed and upheld, Thornton will become yet another name on a growing list of defendants who have felt Howard's chilling wrath. While comparing sentences is apples and oranges because the details of each case are so different, there is some legitimacy to the exercise.

In April, Howard sent a Homosassa man to prison for 30 years for running over and killing a pedestrian. A few differences: The driver was 36, old enough to know better; he was drunk; and he left the scene of the accident.

In December, Howard gave another man 30 years behind bars. This time, the man had pleaded no contest to second-degree murder, shooting an arrow through the chest of a traveling evangelist. The shooter had an extensive criminal history and is serving concurrent sentences for felony battery, attempted kidnapping, aggravated battery, attempted robbery with a firearm, misdemeanor assault and three counts of possession of a firearm by a felon.

Back in March of 2004, Howard sentenced an Ocala man to 30 years for driving drunk and killing two Citrus County men. The 51-year-old was heading home to Ocala from an office party in Gainesville when he wound up on Gospel Island in Citrus County. He lost control of his van and caused a three-car wreck at 3 a.m. His blood-alcohol level was 0.153 and he pleaded no contest to charges of driving under the influence and DUI-manslaughter.

In January 2004, Howard gave a man 40 years in prison for killing another man. The 44-year-old man, who pleaded no contest to second-degree murder with a firearm, will serve at least 25 years.

While it is not entirely fair to cherry-pick cases and sentences, it is apparent that grown men with criminal histories who commit outrageous crimes can expect no mercy from Howard. And no sympathy from the public.

Thornton does not compare to any of them.

Then there are the Adam Bollenbacks of the world, the teenager with a mental illness who stole a six-pack of beer from a neighbor's garage and slipped away from deputies. In 2002, Howard sent the teen to adult prison for 10 years in perhaps his most notorious sentence.

Until now.

William Thornton made a terrible mistake for which he must be punished. But the facts of the case clearly indicate a lack of malice or intent to harm on his part and some culpability on the part of others, including the other driver and Citrus County itself.

The Thornton sentence screams of injustice. The question is, is Citrus County listening?

[Last modified September 18, 2005, 02:15:36]