Kevin Coffay said he remembers only “fear and terror” after crashing his car into a telephone pole and two trees, killing three of his friends and injuring another in May.
Coffay fled after the Olney crash. When the Rockville 20-year-old was apprehended three hours later, his blood-alcohol level was 0.16, twice the legal limit.
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Judge Theresa Adams on Thursday sentenced Coffay to 20 years in prison — she gave him 40 years, but suspended 20 of them — for those actions. Adams said she didn’t doubt he was “freaked out and dazed,” but could not ignore his abandonment of his dying friends, 18-year-old Spencer Datt, 18-year-old Haeley McGuire and 20-year-old John Hoover. All were Magruder High School students or recent graduates.
Coffay, who pleaded guilty in November to vehicular manslaughter and fleeing the scene of a fatal crash, likely will be eligible for parole after serving about five years because the charges are deemed non-violent offenses, prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memorandum.
“Words cannot do justice to the amount of guilt and shame I feel every day,” Coffay said before he was sentenced.
The victims’ family members also spoke in an emotional hearing before a packed courtroom, asking Adams to impose a harsh sentence.
Douglas Datt, Spencer’s father, said his son was “stolen from us as result of a reckless, careless and thoughtless act.” Carolyn Hoover, John’s mother, said she was especially angry that Coffay ran away from the crash.
“Only an individual without moral character or honor would have done that to another person,” she said.
Others spoke of a deep sense of loss. Alexandra Datt, Spencer’s sister, said Thanksgiving was especially hard for her family.
“Everyone was there except for my brother,” she said. “This will be the case for the rest of our lives.”
Coffay’s friends and relatives said he, too, is in pain.
“Kevin made a terrible choice on May 15,” said his mother, Ellen Coffay. “I assure you, he suffers everyday.”
Defense attorney Michael McAuliffe asked for leniency.
“Twenty years is not justice,” he said. “Twenty years is vengeance”
State’s Attorney John McCarthy said the sentence was the harshest he could recall in a vehicular manslaughter case.
“It means we as a community are beginning to take this seriously,” he said.
Prosecutors said Coffay previously had been cited for speeding and wrecked a mailbox in another crash, and has faced vandalism and alcohol-possession charges.
Adams implored the parents and young adults in the courtroom to take responsibility for what she called a “culture of recklessness.”
“It must stop,” she said.
