Turner sentenced in drunk driving crash that killed three

COEUR d'ALENE — In September 2015, Ryan J. Turner drove his Chevy Silverado in the wrong lane of U.S. 95 near Athol, crashing head-on into a southbound minivan.

The impact killed all three of the van's occupants, including 33-year-old Mathew-Michael T. Baroni and his two daughters; Madilyn Baroni, 8; and Molly Baroni, 6, all of Spokane. Baroni, an independent contractor who delivered newspapers for the Spokesman-Review, was on his way home from making deliveries when the crash occurred.

Turner, whose .15 blood-alcohol level was nearly twice the legal limit, had a spotless criminal record before the collision.

In a packed First District courtroom Tuesday, Judge Lansing Haynes sentenced the 28-year-old man to seven years in prison for three counts of vehicular manslaughter. Just one year of the sentence is fixed.

The sentence raised the ire of Pauline Abrego, Mathew-Michael's mother and the grandmother of the fallen children.

"If one year in prison is all you get for drinking and driving and killing someone, everyone should be doing it," an angry Pauline Abrego said as she walked out of the Kootenai County Courthouse.

Catherine Abrego, Micheal's sister, was also taken aback by the sentence.

"They all said (in testimony that Turner is a) 'really great guy' and 'he's always there for you'," Catherine said. "Who they were describing was my brother. My brother was like that, and he didn't kill three people."

Turner pleaded guilty to the charges in October 2016.

The prosecution requested that Turner spend 30 years in prison with 10 years fixed while the defense asked for a suspended sentence, considering his clean history.

David Robins, a prosecuting attorney, said he believed ample prison time was appropriate.

"The defendant has had his grace and mercy. He had it on the day he committed this offense. He had it in the fact he survived this accident. He's had his mercy in the fact he has a family that still loves and accepts him," Robins told Haynes. "He's had his mercy in that he was willing to take the stand and talk. Now it's time for justice, and justice needs to given by you, your honor, to the defendant in recognition of the horrific consequences of a senseless crime."

Turner's defense attorney didn't believe he deserved prison time, and if he did, she asked that the years be served concurrently.

"I knew this was a case that was going to be difficult, not because of the legal issues necessarily. But because I was representing a man who shouldn't be here," the defense attorney said. "A man who has lived his life as a hard-working, humble, dedicated man to his family, soft-spoken, and would give anything to take this away, and represents someone in our community who could be any single person in this room."

Judge Haynes shot down the request of no prison time, but noted Turner wasn't a threat to the community and said he was sure Turner wouldn’t commit this offense again.

However, a punishment needed to be handed out.

"We may need to deter others with a significant prison sentence, but protection of society, as the court sees it, is whether our community needs to be protected (from) Mr. Turner," Haynes said. "It does not. A prison sentence is not needed for people to be protected (from) Mr. Turner, not withstanding the fact he engaged in conduct that had horrific results."

Before the sentence was determined Tuesday, the court took in hours of testimony from Abrego's family, as well as Turner's family members and friends.

Haynes said it was one of the most emotional cases in his lengthy career.

"It's profound. It's across the board ... in 35 years in the criminal justice system, I am not sure I felt the depth of sorrow and sadness as I felt in this courtroom today."