Drunk driver sentenced for fatal wreck near Somers

Flathead County District Court Judge Dan Wilson handed down Thursday a partially suspended 20-year sentence to the drunk driver who struck and killed a motorcyclist near Somers in 2022, citing the sincerity of his remorse and efforts to address his alcoholism, among other factors. 

“There are those who view that taking a life for the offender means that his or her life is then forfeit — one minus one equals zero,” Wilson said before announcing 51-year-old Apollo Guisto’s sentence in the felony vehicular homicide case on Jan. 4. “But justice is not a zero-sum game. It is a process of balancing and weighing the aggravating and mitigating factors on the separate sides of the scales of justice, so to speak.”

Guisto departed a Somers-area bar on Sept. 2, 2022 bound for his home in Bigfork when the collision with Jason Catron occurred at the intersection of Somers Road and Montana 82, according to court documents and witness testimony. Though Guisto allegedly told authorities he came to a stop at the intersection and the motorcycle collided with him, investigators determined that the Bigfork man’s Toyota Sequoia ran the stop sign prior to the fatal wreck.

Responders pronounced Catron dead at the scene.

Guisto initially refused to provide investigators — who noted signs of intoxication — with a blood sample, court documents said. When they secured a warrant for the procedure, Guisto allegedly admitted to drinking alcohol before getting behind the wheel. 

Deputy County Attorney Stacy Boman, who prosecuted the case, told the court that the results indicated a blood alcohol content of .191. It also indicated that Guisto used marijuana prior to the wreck, she said. 

Boman, who unsuccessfully sought a 25-year prison sentence with 10 years suspended for Guisto, noted that he earned a 2020 per se conviction for drunk driving. He had an opportunity then to change his ways, she argued.

“The interests of justice and public safety warrant a prison sentence,” she said. “The defendant is a repeat DUI offender who has now caused the death of another person.” 

Guisto initially maintained his innocence at his 2022 arraignment, but entered a guilty plea after striking a deal with prosecutors in 2023. Under the terms of the agreement, Guisto was free to argue for a lesser sentence.

Defense attorney Sean Hinchey told the court that Guisto had taken responsibility for his actions and would spend the remainder of his life living with the fact that he killed Catron. 

“Dare I say, nobody has punished Apollo more than Apollo has punished himself and likely will continue to do so,” Hinchey said, arguing for the partially suspended 20-year stint with the state Department of Corrections. 

TESTIFYING ON his own behalf, Guisto’s voice broke into a wail as he recounted the fatal collision. 

“I should never have gotten behind the wheel after drinking,” he said as his voice began to falter. “I’m so sorry. I live with that shame every day. I think about him. I think about his family. It’s hard to put it away.”

Addressing his 2020 driving under the influence conviction, Guisto said at the time he blamed the traffic stop for swerving while trying to change the radio rather than his drinking. He didn’t think he had a substance abuse problem. 

With three decades in the restaurant industry, he thought he knew what chemical dependency looked like and it came with obvious signs, like drinking daily and hiding bottles. Undergoing treatment since his arrest, Guisto testified that he has since come to understand his problem with alcohol. 

“It helps you realize that alcoholism [comes] in lots of forms,” he said. 

Turning to Wilson, he said he hoped the judge saw that he “wasn’t a horrible person.”

“If I could take it back, I would,” Guisto said.

Rebekah King, Guisto’s partner, asked for leniency during her time on the stand, if only for the couple’s teenage daughter. The fatal wreck had wreaked havoc on the family, she said.  

“She cannot will herself to go to classes,” King said. “Her anxiety is so bad that she throws up frequently throughout the day. We’ve been to the doctor multiple times. She’s on medication. I need more than anything else for her to be OK. Because she deserves it.”

People can rightly demonize Guisto for his actions, she said. But punishing him with a lengthy prison sentence would rob their daughter of a father and the community of an otherwise upstanding member, King told Wilson. 

“Judge Wilson, I beg you to look at my daughter. I beg you to look at Apollo,” she said. “There is no rehabilitation that will happen if he is incarcerated. There is no reform. There is only revenge and punishment that will create more victims.”

PRIOR TO handing down the sentence, Wilson took note of Guisto’s remorse, his entering a substance abuse treatment program and his eventual guilty plea to the original charge of vehicular homicide. 

That Guisto’s decisions and actions led to the death of another person warranted repercussions, he said. Guisto’s behavior since authorities charged him with the felony factored into the calculation as well, Wilson said. 

The judge also pointed to the bevy of letters in support of Guisto submitted to the court ahead of his sentencing date. Residents, former coworkers, business owners and others petitioned Wilson for leniency, citing Guisto’s temperament, commitment to family, hard work ethic and role in the Bigfork community. 

“In weighing the impact of those letters, the question isn’t merely what words were said [and] how many times those similar words were said, but the sincerity, depth of knowledge and experience that is apparent behind each of those letters — similar to the testimony of the witnesses proffered by Mr. Guisto at today’s sentencing hearing,” Wilson said. 

Ultimately, Guisto took responsibility for the underlying behavior that led to the fatal wreck and sought to better himself, Wilson said. State sentencing guidelines seek the self-improvement, rehabilitation and reintegration of an offender back into the community, an effort Guisto had begun while still free from incarceration, he said. 

“Government does not fix people,” Wilson said, who also gave Guisto credit for 11 days of time served. “The government never had that capability. People fix themselves, if at all.”