DRIVER TO BE SENTENCED IN FATAL CRASH
CYCLIST'S DEATH EVOKES FEELINGS OF ANGER, FEAR

By JACK HOPKINS P-I Reporter

Monday, July 3, 1995

Section: News, Page: A1

David Juarez thought his love of bicycling was the key to good health, happiness and a long life. It ended up costing him his life.

The 41-year-old Bellevue man was killed last fall when a drinking driver's car slammed into a group of bicyclists on a club outing in Renton.

The driver, Barbara Jean Morris, goes before a judge on Friday to be sentenced for the collision that killed Juarez, injured three other club members and left bicycling enthusiasts stunned.

Juarez's widow, Maria, intends to be there. She wants to see Morris sentenced to prison and hopes the judge will give the 40-year-old Tacoma woman an added penalty.

``I'm hoping the judge, in addition to giving her the maximum time allowed in prison, will give her an extended period of time without a driving license afterward - 10 years or something like that," Juarez said.

``I think that would be poetic justice. Without a car, she would have to find an alternative means of transportation, possibly even a bicycle," she said.

Morris, who drove more than two miles before a witness chased her down and confronted her, has not commented publicly about the collision.

The Boeing quality-control inspector will get a chance to do her talking when she faces King County Superior Court Judge Robert Alsdorf for sentencing. She pleaded guilty in April to charges of vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and felony hit-and-run.

But her lawyer says she is likely to turn down the chance to speak.

``She is extremely distraught," defense attorney Jan Olson explained. ``I have seen her shed tears over this. She is not likely to be able to speak at her sentencing because she is devastated by what she has done."

Prosecutors say they will ask Alsdorf to sentence Morris to four years in prison.

Members of Puget Sound-area bicycle clubs plan to have a few things to say at the sentencing, too. Members of Mothers Against Drunk Driving also plan to be on hand.

``There are a lot of emotions - shock, anger and fear - over this," said Kim Upper, president of the Cascade Bicycle Club, which sponsored the outing that day.

``A lot of very experienced bicyclists had real difficulty getting back on their bikes after this," he said.

``Sometimes you hear about a cyclist going down, and it may have been because they did something wrong," Upper said. ``But this was a case where the whole group was making every effort to be careful and doing everything right. And still it happened."

Seriously injured in the Oct. 13 accident was Truman ``Skip" Jolley, 53, of Seattle. Nancy Denney, 39, of Renton and Peter Grey, 27, of Redmond suffered lesser injuries.

The bicyclists were returning to Coulon Park in Renton after pedaling to the southern end of Kent. The collision occurred as they neared the end of their ride on East Valley Road.

Prosecutors accused Morris of being drunk and speeding when she hit the bicyclists. They said she was going about 50 miles an hour in a 35-mph zone. They said she had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.14 when tested afterward, above the legal limit of 0.10.

However, they dropped the drunken-driving allegation in a plea agreement in which Morris acknowledged reckless - not drunken - driving.

That was an important distinction to Morris because a finding that alcohol abuse caused the accident would have added about a year to the standard penalty range of three to four years.

Morris declined comment on her upcoming sentencing. But when she entered her guilty plea in April, she told a judge she couldn't remember the collision.

Morris entered what is known as an Alford plea, in which the defendant denies wrongdoing but acknowledges that a jury would return a guilty verdict and wants to take advantage of a plea agreement instead.

``I maintain my innocence," she said in a written statement filed in the case. ``I have no memory of the . . . accident or of my alleged flight."

Morris' attorney will recommend a three-year prison term. Olson said his client is ready to hear some angry words at her sentencing.

``It is going to be very painful for her to stand there at bar and listen to Maria Juarez and others say how their lives have been ruined," he said. ``She knows that is going to happen, and she accepts it and understands their feelings.

``What is so difficult about this case is that she (Morris) has no memory of what occurred," Olson said. ``So it has been difficult for her to fathom how she has awakened to find a human life has been taken and another person has been seriously injured."

Morris hopes people don't interpret her Alford plea as a refusal to accept responsibility, her lawyer said. ``It's just that it is difficult pleading guilty to something when you have no memory of it."

Morris had no previous DUI convictions and no criminal record before the accident. She entered an alcoholism treatment program after the fatal collision and is complying with a court order that she not drink, Olson said.

Juarez isn't convinced that Morris really has accepted responsibility or that she is truly remorseful.

``When she is in prison, I hope that she finally begins to realize what she has done," Juarez said. ``I have seen her at the courthouse at times, and she has never seemed to show any remorse whatsoever. That has made the experience more difficult for me."

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