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Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Ind. Decisions - "Ex-lawyer gets 2 years in deadly DUI," may serve 11 months

Since May 7, 2007 the ILB has followed the stories of two young Indiana attorneys, one, Teresa Perry from Evansville, charged with possessing and distributing methamphetamine; the other, Terry Record, an Indiana attorney, also from Evansville, charged with in a drunken-driving with fatality case.

As noted in this long ILB entry from April 15th, "Perry was sentenced on May 28, 2008 to 'a total of six years in the Indiana Department of Correction.'" Read Kate Braser's story here. It concludes:

Trockman said he considered that Perry was charged with a nonviolent crime, has no previous record, has engaged in voluntary treatment and is unlikely to reoffend.

However, Trockman said he was concerned that some of the drug-related activity took place at Perry's rental home near a school, and he did not believe the items found at her home and law office reflected her as merely an addict.

"And although you did not manufacture drugs in the traditional sense, you were processing them at your home and office to make them more pure," Trockman said.

"This leads me to the most troubling aspect of this crime. Ms. Perry is an addict, and may very well succeed, and we hope that she will, but addicts don't have to be as engaged in the drug culture as Ms. Perry was."

A year later, yesterday, Terry J. Record was sentenced. Jon Murray reports today in the Indianapolis Star:
A judge sentenced a former state attorney to two years in prison today for driving drunk and causing a fatal wreck.

A special prosecutor asked for the maximum eight years in prison, but Terry J. Record, 29, instead received the advisory four-year sentence with half suspended.

Marion Superior Court Pro Tem Judge Mark Jones added four years of probation, with 80 hours of community service each year; about $20,000 in restitution to the victim’s family; and a five-year license suspension — a sentence designed to punish Record and ensure that he doesn’t harm anyone else again, the judge said.

In May 2007, Record left Brad’s Brass Flamingo after sharing pitchers of beer and shots with a stripper and ran a red light at Southeastern Avenue and Pleasant Run Parkway. His red BMW, traveling 59 mph in a 35-mph zone, plowed into Jimmy R. Cash’s truck, nearly splitting it in two.

Cash, 46, a father and husband, died at the scene. * * *

Record pleaded guilty in April to a Class C felony charge of operating a vehicle while intoxicated, causing death. He avoided more serious Class B felony charges because of evidence problems related to blood tests that prompted special prosecutor Barry Brown, a former Monroe County prosecutor, to offer the plea.

He likely will win release from prison in about 11 months, with credit for good behavior and 26 days spent in jail while his case was pending.

A check of the Roll of Attorneys shows both Perry's and Record's status as "suspended;"

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 3, 2009 04:29 PM
Posted to Ind. Trial Ct. Decisions