Henry CofrancescoA judge shot down a request Tuesday to reconsider a sentence he gave a Chattanooga man for causing a fatal wreck in 2016 while under the influence.
In July, Hamilton County Criminal Court Judge Don Poole sentenced Henry Cofrancesco III to nine years in a Tennessee prison for vehicular homicide and another 11 months and 29 days for aggravated driving under the influence. Vehicular homicide, a Class B felony, carries eight to 12 years behind bars.
Cofrancesco, who asked for eight years during that hearing, wanted the judge to rethink his initial decision.
"We don't see a situation - and the case law talks about this - where cars have to veer out of the way or there's an immediate danger," his attorney, Ben McGowan, argued Tuesday. "[Except] for the motorcycle coming over the horizon, there would not have been another accident."
McGowan was referring to May 21, 2016, the night Cofrancesco pulled into the path of 60-year-old motorcyclist Robert Benedict on Lee Highway. Prosecutors said Cofrancesco had been drinking inside the Images nightclub with his girlfriend and left after getting into an argument. After he struck Benedict, he went back inside the bar, said Assistant District Attorney Kate Lavery, who added that Cofrancesco had a blood alcohol content of .612.
McGowan argued Cofrancesco never intended to kill anyone, and that Poole was giving too much weight to the prosecution's claim that Cofrancesco was a great risk of life to others. There was little other traffic, McGowan argued, and Cofrancesco took responsibility when he pleaded guilty in April to the two most serious crimes on his indictment.
Robert BenedictCofrancesco was originally indicted on seven crimes, including possession of a controlled substance, failure to render aid, and leaving the scene of an accident, most of which were dismissed as part of his plea agreement, court records show.
Lavery, however, disputed many of McGowan's points.
Lee Highway was far from a deserted road that night, she said, and the median sentence for a Class B felony is 108 months, which is nine years. "And I doubt very many of those include the death of an innocent person, so your first decision for nine years is extremely appropriate," she told Judge Poole.
Poole decided not to change his original sentence.
Afterward, Benedict's wife, Lisa, said she appreciated Poole's choice, even if the difference was just a year.
"He didn't get to experience life anymore," she said of Robert Benedict. "He didn't get to say, 'Can I have another year of life?'"
Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow him on Twitter @zackpeterson918.