St. Charles, MO
A former St. Charles man was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison for a drunken driving crash that killed a motorcyclist in 2007.Timothy P. Walker, 32, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter after a jury trial in May. He was driving a Corvette at speeds of up to 118 mph seconds before slamming into the back of a motorcycle driven by Donnie Gaither, 57, of St. Charles County. The crash happened about 12:30 a.m. on April 13 in a westbound lane of Interstate 70 on the Blanchette Bridge.
Authorities said Walker’s blood-alcohol level was between 0.148 percent and 0.188 percent at the time of the crash, well above the 0.08 percent limit at which a Missouri driver is presumed drunk.
Circuit Judge Lucy Rauch gave Walker the maximum sentence.
Assistant prosecutor Philip Groenweghe said the justice system gave Walker several chances. Walker had been found guilty of a felony drug charge and two driving while intoxicated charges, he said. He was given probation each time.
Groenweghe asked for the maximum penalty, saying Walker should be kept away from the public for as long as possible.
“We know what this defendant can do in one single, solitary day,” Groenweghe said. “He cost a man his life.”
Wayne Schoeneberg, Walker’s attorney, said his client spent 13 months in jail after he was charged and a month after the trial. Walker was a law-abiding family man while he was out of jail, he said, and he learned from his time behind bars.
He asked Rauch to sentence Walker to probation and treatment.
Schoeneberg said Walker felt sorry about what happened to Gaither. He was careful not to say Walker admitted guilt. At trial, Walker’s main defense was that another man, Scott Fus, could have been driving the car.
Walker is engaged to a woman who is pregnant with his child. A letter she sent to the court asking for leniency said her child “will not know his father.”
But Groenweghe said Gaither has a daughter, 16, who will never see her father again.
Schoeneberg said Walker planned to appeal.