Two people charged in connection with a fatal crash earlier this year allegedly involving teens, drinking and driving in Douglasville told a judge Wednesday that they want to plead guilty, Channel 2 Action News reports.
Jason Lark, the 17-year-old driver of a Chevrolet Blazer in the February crash that killed one person and injured several others, and Dustin Willis, a 21-year-old passenger in the vehicle, announced their intention to admit guilt in a Douglas County courtroom.
They said they would do so after negotiating a plea deal with prosecutors.
Douglas County District Attorney David McDade said any deal would have to include prison time.
“The defense attorneys are hopeful we can negotiate some kind of resolution that has a number in it they can live with,” McDade told Channel 2. But with one of the charges being vehicular homicide, he said, “we prosecute severely, and they’re going to prison.”
A Villa Rica High School sophomore, Cheyenne Sauls, 16, was killed in the wreck.
Mark Pilgrim, the Sauls’ family attorney, told Channel 2 that his clients “are surprisingly OK with the idea of ending it abruptly. They did not want a long drawn-out type of hearing.”
Charges against Lark include driving under the influence and first-degree vehicular homicide. Willis is charged with vehicular homicide and furnishing alcohol to minors. The two remain jailed without bond.
If the two sides fail to reach a deal and the two defendants are convicted at trial, they could face as much as about 30 years in prison.
Douglas County authorities charged 10 people, including Todd McAllister, Douglasville’s chief code enforcement officer, and Rocky Patel, a liquor store owner, with helping to supply alcohol at two parties attended by the teens before the accident.
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