Sean C. Morgan
Bobby Ray Hancock, 42, was sentenced on Sept. 25 in Linn County Circuit Court to 90 days in jail for driving under the influence of intoxicants.
A Linn County jury on Aug. 26 acquitted Hancock of first-degree manslaughter and tampering with evidence but found him guilty of DUII, following a trial.
Hancock was also sentenced to 36 months of bench probation and ordered to pay $1,355 in fines and fees.
The charges stemmed from a motorcycle crash on Foster Dam Road on Sept. 17, 2011 that killed Hancock’s fiance, Victoria Sophia Richards.
Hancock also faces charges of tampering with a witness and contempt of court for an accusation that he violated his release agreement. Trial is set for March 18-19 in Linn County Circuit Court.
Hancock was lodged at Linn County Jail on Sept. 25 and is scheduled for release on Oct. 11.
He received credit for time served, which left him to serve 16 more days.
Hancock had requested diversion, said his attorney Mike Arnold. Because the charge was connected to a charge of manslaughter, it was automatically denied under Oregon law.
“Two years ago, I told the court the problem is what happens if he gets acquitted of manslaughter,” Arnold said. He asked for the diversion anyway on equal protection grounds.
The prosecutor overcharged on this case, and it prevented diversion, Arnold said. “The judge is a wise judge, and the sentence is fair.”
But the diversion law is way too much power in an “unelected bureaucrat prosecutor,” Arnold said.
Hancock is currently seeking damages from the City of Sweet Home and the county.
Following the August trial, Arnold submitted a tort claim notice to the city of Sweet Home for defamation, based on statements made by Police Chief Jeff Lynn.
The claim, laid out in a Sept. 5 letter to the city from Michael Arnold, accuses Lynn of “maliciously and tortiously” lying when he told a newspaper reporter for The New Era that Hancock initially indicated that he was the operator of a motorcycle that crashed on Foster Dam Road in the early morning hours of Sept. 24, 2011, killing Hancock’s fiancee, Richards, but “then later backed down on that” in interviews with investigators.
“That statement, along with many others in Lynn’s interview, is a complete fabrication and is defamatory to Mr. Hancock,” Arnold wrote in the letter.
He also took issue with other statements by Lynn, quoted in the newspaper, regarding who was operating the motorcycle when it left the Waterhole tavern and the handling of evidence following the crash.
On behalf of Hancock, Arnold’s letter demands $10,000 in damages, to be paid within 30 days of the notice. Alternatively, the letter says, Hancock asks that Lynn retract the “defamatory statements, admit the truth and apologize to Mr. Hancock for making such statements in a format to be agreed to by the parties.”
The letter also states that the defamation claim “is separate” from “other claims Mr. Hancock may have against the above-named parties for other actions committed during the pendency of the false charges against Mr. Hancock.”
The tort claim notice has been turned over to the city’s insurance provider, said City Manager Craig Martin.
“They will review it and respond accordingly on behalf of the city.”
On Sept. 23, Arnold filed a lawsuit against Linn County, alleging that the Foster Dam “roadway was poorly planned, poorly implemented and poorly maintained by the County. As designed and maintained, the unsafe or confusing signage, road markings, and/or traffic control increased the chances that a last minute change of direction by an inexperienced motorcycle operator would have a total loss of control of the bike.”
Driving south over the dam, the road widens slightly, the complaint said, and a curbed section, covered with evergreen shrubs, on the right transitions to a much wider shoulder with no curb. Eight Jersey barriers, aligned in a straight formation, diverge from the main road, followed by more poorly maintained curbing covered with evergreen shrubs as the road curves to the left.
“With the road suddenly widening with dangerous landscaping and the misleading Jersey barriers, the roadway misleads drivers to the right of the road, obscuring the imminent left turn,” the complaint said. “There was nothing to adequately alert a nighttime driver of the drastic narrowing of the roadway or to reasonably alert the driver that the widening right side was not intended to be part of the roadway.”
The lawsuit also claims lighting in the area created a hazard, with an abrupt transition from heavy lighting at the spillway followed by darkness and then a single light in a small building to the right of the barriers.
The neglect remains evident today, according to the complaint. Even following receipt of a tort claim notice from the plaintiff in 2011, Linn County has not addressed any of the issues, including the damage to the guardrail from the Richards-Hancock motorcycle crash.
Hancock is seeking $72,453.62 in medical expenses, $7,000 for property damage to the motorcycle and a maximum of $566,700 for non-economic damages.
Linn County Board of Commissioners Chairman Roger Nyquist said his board hasn’t been briefed on the lawsuit yet.