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Woman sentenced for deadly crash

by KAYE THORNBRUGH
Staff Writer | December 2, 2021 1:09 AM

COEUR d’ALENE — A woman who caused a head-on crash that killed a man last year will spend up to a decade behind bars.

Christine M. Cann, 58, of Coeur d’Alene, pleaded guilty in June to vehicular manslaughter, a felony punishable by a maximum of 15 years in prison.

First District Judge Scott Wayman sentenced Cann on Tuesday to 10 years in prison, with five years fixed and five years indeterminate.

That means Cann will be eligible for parole in about five years.

Prosecutors recommended the sentence.

Police said Cann was driving west in the eastbound lanes of Interstate 90 on Sept. 11, 2020, when her 2020 Toyota RAV4 hit a Chevy Sonic head-on at a speed near 100 mph.

Jeremy T. Scherer, 24, of Spokane Valley, was driving the Sonic.

Dash cam footage released by Idaho State Police showed a gray SUV traveling the wrong way on the eastbound interstate before the crash. Several eastbound drivers swerved to miss the SUV.

The collision with Cann caused Scherer to spin sideways, where he was struck on his driver’s side by another vehicle.

Cann reportedly told police she “had a rum” at 6 a.m. after spending the night at a friend’s house.

Bystanders reportedly held Scherer and prayed for him while they waited for an ambulance to arrive.

Scherer was transported to Kootenai Health, where he died of his injuries.

At the time of his death, he was newly married with an infant son.

His widow, Priscilla Scherer, said they were childhood sweethearts who met at age 11.

“There was a time that Jeremy looked at his grandma and said he would marry me one day,” she said.

That promise came true in 2019, when the couple married. But what Scherer’s family described as a fairytale romance came to an unexpected end just a year later.

She described the shock she felt upon seeing her husband in the hospital, his body broken and covered in blood, and realizing he wouldn’t survive.

“I cannot believe that everything we shared is now a memory and I will never get a future with my soulmate,” she said.

She’s especially grieved by the knowledge that their son will never know Scherer.

“How am I to explain that his father was killed by someone who couldn’t pay for an Uber home?” she said.

A cross stands at the spot where Scherer’s car ended up. His family visits the site, placing items at the cross in remembrance of him — a teddy bear, a basketball, Christmas lights.

“Jeremy was the rock of the family,” his father, Todd Scherer, told the court.

He described his son as the coolest person he’d ever met — a selfless, hard-working young man who never had a bad word to say about anyone.

“Ms. Cann, he would’ve been your best friend,” he said. “I am glad that I know he is in heaven so I can see him one day.”

Since the crash, he said he’s lived in anguish and grief.

“How do I get used to living without my son?” he said. “I don’t know how.”

After the crash, Cann spent 24 days in jail before she posted $75,000 bond.

Cann is a Canadian citizen. Her attorney said she will likely be deported to Canada after her release from prison.

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Cann