DOTHAN, Ala. - There were no cheers or even sighs of relief in a Houston County courtroom Thursday when a jury decided the legal fate of Crystal Finnegan.
Finnegan stood accused of manslaughter in the 2008 traffic accident death of her 11-year-old son, Rippen Upton. Another son, Brody, 9, and a passenger in another vehicle were seriously injured. She also faced two counts of first-degree assault.
Instead, the jury found Finnegan guilty of criminally negligent homicide, a misdemeanor. She was also found guilty of two counts of third degree assault, both misdemeanors.
Finnegan cried uncontrollably when Circuit Judge Butch Binford read the verdicts. She buried her face in her hands and sat down, resting her head on a nearby table. Outside the courtroom, Finnegan fell to her knees and continued to cry while being comforted by family.
“There are no winners in a case like this,” said her husband, Timothy Finnegan.
Defense attorney Matt Lamere said he could not rejoice in the jury returning misdemeanor verdicts.
“Normally, when your client is charged with three Class B felonies, you would be grinning from ear to ear to get three misdemeanors,” Lamere said. “But not in a case like this.”
Binford sentenced Finnegan to one year in prison for each conviction. Lamere requested suspended sentences for each count. A probation hearing is set for April 28 at 8:30 a.m.
Had she been convicted of all three felony counts, Finnegan stood to be sentenced to as much as 60 years in prison.
The charges stemmed from an accident that occurred on the east side of Ross Clark Circle on a rainy day in June 2008. Finnegan said she was returning home to Columbus, Ga., from Pensacola, Fla. She said the last thing she remembered before the accident was singing a song with her children who accompanied her in her vehicle.
Finnegan lost control of her Chevrolet pickup and appeared to hydroplane on the wet pavement, crossed the median and struck a church bus carrying middle school and high school students from Kentucky.
Rippen Upton was pronounced dead soon after the crash. Brody Upton was critically injured and still suffers from the injuries he received in the accident. A passenger in the church bus, Dianna Combs, was seriously injured.
The prosecution claimed Finnegan was driving recklessly prior to the accident. Witness accounts and other evidence collected from the scene indicated she could have been traveling around 75 miles per hour or faster. The speed limit on Ross Clark Circle is 50 miles per hour.
Lamere, however, argued that Finnegan was not reckless but negligent.
Alabama law defines criminal negligence as an act that occurs “when he fails to perceive a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the result will occur. The risk must be of such nature and degree that the failure to perceive it constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that a reasonable person would observe in the situation.”
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