rrrr
10-26-2004, 07:37 PM
I copied this from the Dallas Morning News website so you guys wouldn't have to register to see it. When are judges going to see these people for what they are? :mad: :mad:
Notice the guy disappeared so he could sober up.
Man sentenced to 6 months in boating fatality
Grapevine graduate, 23, was killed in 2003 on lake near Austin
09:17 PM CDT on Monday, October 25, 2004
By KATHY A. GOOLSBY / The Dallas Morning News
A San Antonio real estate salesman pleaded guilty Friday in the 2003 boating death of a Grapevine High School graduate.
Robert N. Corrigan III, 29, was sentenced to six months in jail and received a $10,000 fine in a Memorial Day boating accident that killed Laura Leigh Putnam, 23. Mr. Corrigan was charged with failure to stop and render assistance.
Ms. Putnam was adrift in a boat on Lyndon B. Johnson Lake near Austin with her fiancé, Justin Moore of Coppell, and his cousin, Jerry Cypert of Lubbock, about 2:30 a.m. May 26, 2003. A boat operated by Mr. Corrigan sped out of the darkness, struck the boat Ms. Putnam was on and went airborne, knocking her overboard, according to a search warrant affidavit. Her body was found 13 days later; an autopsy ruled she drowned.
District Judge Guilford Jones also ordered a three-year Memorial Day curfew for Mr. Corrigan.
"For the next three years, from Friday at 6 p.m. until Monday at 6 p.m., the judge wants him at home to think over the events and consequences of what happened," said Mr. Corrigan's attorney, Van Hilley.
Ms. Putnam's parents, Judd and Betty Putnam of Grapevine, and her brother Phillip Putnam gave statements during Friday's proceedings in Bexar County District Court. Mr. Corrigan had apologized Friday to the family in court.
"He stood up and kind of gave us a formal apology, but through our impact statements, neither he nor his parents reacted in any way," said Mr. Putnam, who estimated he and his family spoke for at least 15 minutes.
Mr. Hilley said his client conducted himself properly during the statements.
"You're supposed to be courteous and fully listening during the victim impact statements, and I think he did that," Mr. Hilley said.
The Putnams filed a wrongful-death lawsuit last year against Mr. Corrigan, boat owner Berkley Dawson and his brother, Vincent Dawson. The Dawsons own the house where Mr. Corrigan was staying that weekend.
The suit was dismissed in June after a $2.5 million settlement by Berkley Dawson's insurance company.
A portion of the money was paid to Mr. Cypert, who suffered a cut on his head during the accident, and to Bill deTournillon of Lubbock, owner of the boat that Ms. Putnam was on. The majority of the settlement was paid to her family.
Mr. Corrigan was ordered to begin serving time Nov. 12 at a Burnet County jail. Mr. Putnam said the family is satisfied with the judge's ruling and determined to remember Ms. Putnam without thinking about Mr. Corrigan.
"We're going to move on and try to forget him, if at all possible," Mr. Putnam said. "Laura had a short life and a wonderful life, and I got to be her father. That was special to me."
Notice the guy disappeared so he could sober up.
Man sentenced to 6 months in boating fatality
Grapevine graduate, 23, was killed in 2003 on lake near Austin
09:17 PM CDT on Monday, October 25, 2004
By KATHY A. GOOLSBY / The Dallas Morning News
A San Antonio real estate salesman pleaded guilty Friday in the 2003 boating death of a Grapevine High School graduate.
Robert N. Corrigan III, 29, was sentenced to six months in jail and received a $10,000 fine in a Memorial Day boating accident that killed Laura Leigh Putnam, 23. Mr. Corrigan was charged with failure to stop and render assistance.
Ms. Putnam was adrift in a boat on Lyndon B. Johnson Lake near Austin with her fiancé, Justin Moore of Coppell, and his cousin, Jerry Cypert of Lubbock, about 2:30 a.m. May 26, 2003. A boat operated by Mr. Corrigan sped out of the darkness, struck the boat Ms. Putnam was on and went airborne, knocking her overboard, according to a search warrant affidavit. Her body was found 13 days later; an autopsy ruled she drowned.
District Judge Guilford Jones also ordered a three-year Memorial Day curfew for Mr. Corrigan.
"For the next three years, from Friday at 6 p.m. until Monday at 6 p.m., the judge wants him at home to think over the events and consequences of what happened," said Mr. Corrigan's attorney, Van Hilley.
Ms. Putnam's parents, Judd and Betty Putnam of Grapevine, and her brother Phillip Putnam gave statements during Friday's proceedings in Bexar County District Court. Mr. Corrigan had apologized Friday to the family in court.
"He stood up and kind of gave us a formal apology, but through our impact statements, neither he nor his parents reacted in any way," said Mr. Putnam, who estimated he and his family spoke for at least 15 minutes.
Mr. Hilley said his client conducted himself properly during the statements.
"You're supposed to be courteous and fully listening during the victim impact statements, and I think he did that," Mr. Hilley said.
The Putnams filed a wrongful-death lawsuit last year against Mr. Corrigan, boat owner Berkley Dawson and his brother, Vincent Dawson. The Dawsons own the house where Mr. Corrigan was staying that weekend.
The suit was dismissed in June after a $2.5 million settlement by Berkley Dawson's insurance company.
A portion of the money was paid to Mr. Cypert, who suffered a cut on his head during the accident, and to Bill deTournillon of Lubbock, owner of the boat that Ms. Putnam was on. The majority of the settlement was paid to her family.
Mr. Corrigan was ordered to begin serving time Nov. 12 at a Burnet County jail. Mr. Putnam said the family is satisfied with the judge's ruling and determined to remember Ms. Putnam without thinking about Mr. Corrigan.
"We're going to move on and try to forget him, if at all possible," Mr. Putnam said. "Laura had a short life and a wonderful life, and I got to be her father. That was special to me."