High court rules against drunk driver who killed two

The Montana Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that a former Thompson Falls school board chairman cannot go before Sanders County District Judge James Manley to make his case for an evaluation of how his sentence was imposed.

Lance Pavlik, 48, had asked to go before Manley for a hearing about whether or not the District Court’s sentence was being properly followed.

A hearing before Manley was set for late January but the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole appealed to the high court to stop the proceedings because Pavlik is imprisoned outside Manley’s jurisdiction in Sanders County.

The high court agreed with the Parole Board, finding that “Pavlik’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus is not properly before the Twentieth Judicial District Court because Pavlik undisputed is not incarcerated in Sanders County.”

Granting Pavlik’s request to be heard in Sanders County “presents a constitutional issue with statewide implications,” the court concluded.

Pavlik is serving a 30-year sentence with 20 years suspended for a drunken-driving crash in September 2012 that killed 32-year-old Jeremiah Bennett of Thompson Falls and his fiancee, Christina Rae Jackson, 23, of Noxon. Bennett’s children, who were 4 and 2 years old at the time, were seriously injured.

He pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide under the influence plus two counts of criminal endangerment for injuring the children, for which he received two additional 10-year suspended sentences for injuring the children.

His blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit at the time of the crash.

Pavlik “just wants a fair shake,” his attorney Lance Jasper said last week.

Jasper argued in his filing to the Montana Supreme Court that an override form was filed by a Montana Department of Corrections parole officer the same day Pavlik was sentenced, essentially saying he should go to prison instead of serving his sentence in a less harsh environment.

“Essentially, the probation officer who prepared the override document surreptitiously altered the judgment,” Jasper said.

Jasper said he believes the judge did not mean for Pavlik to spend all 10 years in prison if he behaved well.

“He would have been eligible for parole after two and a half years,” Jasper said.

There was a provision in the original judgment that recommended Pavlik be screened for treatment in the Warm Springs Addiction and Treatment Change, a program that works to rehabilitate DUI offenders.

Jasper said he has worked on around two dozen Montana fatal DUI cases in his career and Pavlik’s sentence was in line with others, as is getting out in two and a half years if the client behaves well. Jasper said all of the clients with whom he has worked who were involved with fatal DUI cases were successfully rehabilitated.

“He’s been a model prisoner,” Jasper said. “He’s done everything that has been asked of him in the prison. His counselors there are all recommending that he be put in the WATCH program. There were no individuals that were not supportive of his release, with the exception of the family of the victims and this [probation officer.]”

After a July 2015 hearing, the Montana Board of Pardons and Parole issued the following decision after Pavlik’s only chance at parole: “Release at this time would diminish the severity of the offense,” the board concluded in its report. “No early consideration.”

Jasper said the probation officer’s alleged alteration of the judgment gave the Parole Board the wrong impression of the judge’s intentions.

In court documents, Jasper also pointed out to the high court that one of the board members recused himself from the hearing, but only after telling the board that his two brothers had been killed in a drunken- driving accident. That story could have prejudiced the board, Jasper claims.

“They were predisposed to believe that the intent of the court was to keep him in prison,” Jasper said. “It contradicts the judgment and transcript of the hearing.”

 Jasper said his client does not intend to give up his fight for release after Wednesday’s ruling.

“We are considering options,” Jasper said. “It will be refiled in Powell County or Sanders County.”

At least one person intends to resist Pavlik’s release at every turn.

Abel Bennett, the father of victim Jeremiah Bennett, said in a phone call from Colorado that he wants Pavlik to serve his full sentence. Bennett’s family was upset with the whole process of getting Pavlik incarcerated. Bennett wanted the matter to go to trial so that a maximum 40-year sentence might have been imposed.

Bennett’s grandchildren still have nightmares of being trapped in the car, with their stepmother-to-be dead on top of them, he said.

“These are scars that my grandchildren have to deal with for the rest of their lives,” Bennett said.  “My son and his fiancee are worth a year and a half each. Is that fair? I don’t think so. If they were his kids, what would he want? He wouldn’t be happy with this.”

Bennett also has the horrific memories of having to identify his son in the morgue and deals with the absence of his son’s phone calls that used to come every few days. Jeremiah visited his family every year, and he had remained close to his family despite distance, according to his father.

Bennett said he is most upset that Pavlik had a prior DUI a year before the accident. After going through the process to get his license back, Pavlik should have known how to resist the urge to drink and drive, Bennett said.

“Nobody twisted Lance Pavlik’s arm — he had numerous people who offered to take him home,” Bennett said. “That’s just like somebody taking a gun and shooting somebody. He refused everybody to take him home. He could have prevented this. He went through the 12 steps, did the program, got his driver’s license and the state gave him a legal murder weapon to kill my son.”

Bennett said he and his family intend to resist Pavlik’s release in every way possible.

“In six years, he’s still a young man,” Bennett said. “He’s still got a life. Jeremiah had barely started his life. He never got to see his children grow up. He never got to give his daughter away. He’ll never be there for his son’s birthdays. He plea-bargained for 10 years. Be a man. Do your 10 years.”

Reporter Megan Strickland can be reached at 758-4459 or mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.