Fatal collision nets Marine 1-year term

Source: http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110125_Fatal_collision_nets_Marine_1-year_term.html

Fatal collision nets Marine 1-year term

By Nelson Daranciang

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jan 25, 2011

A state judge sentenced a Kaneohe Marine to one year in jail yesterday for third-degree negligent homicide in the death of a motorist in 2008.

Pfc. Eric Wycklendt crashed a seven-ton military troop transport vehicle head-on into a minivan on Kamehameha Highway.

However, the judge is letting Wycklendt, 21, remain free for the next two months to give his lawyer the opportunity to argue for a lesser sentence.

One year is the maximum jail term for third-degree negligent homicide.

Wycklendt’s attorney, Noah Fiddler, said the then-19-year-old infantryman was driving the troop transport vehicle to the Kahuku Training Area from Kaneohe on Oct. 23, 2008, when he crossed the center line and crashed into Vicki Lynn Norman’s minivan. The 57-year-old mother of six died at the scene.

Witnesses reported seeing Wycklendt have difficulty negotiating his vehicle on the highway, especially around curves, either crossing the center line into the opposite lane of traffic or driving on the shoulder of the roadway, said Brian Kim, deputy prosecutor.

“He didn’t have control of the vehicle. The vehicle was simply just too big. He didn’t have the experience. Maybe he didn’t have the training,” Kim said.

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