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SALT LAKE CITY — A father told a judge Thursday that the man who caused the crash that killed his daughter made a clear, conscious decision to get high, steal a vehicle and plow through a red light.
"He deserves no mercy, and the maximum sentence allowed. At some point he will be given a second chance, which is not the case for Amber. I love and miss her spirit, and she will live in my heart forever," Terry Schneiter said.
He said the death of his daughter, Amber Schneiter, has created a hole in his heart, left a 3-year-old girl without a mom, and affected his entire extended family. Schneiter said he raised his daughter and his son as a single parent for most of their lives, and he talked about memories from that time, going through their nightly routines.
Schneiter spoke about watching his daughter in the intensive care unit for 12 days, before watching an organ donation team wheel her away.
"It was painfully obvious she was not going to improve," he said.
Jaden Olin Eckes, 22, of Bluebell, Duchesne County, caused crashes at two different intersections on New Year's Eve. Amber Schneiter was driving one of the five cars involved in the second crash in West Valley City.
The crash also caused the death of Bernardo Molina, one of two pedestrians in the crosswalk who were hit by Eckes' car as it entered the intersection on a red light. Charging documents said Eckes admitted to smoking methamphetamine that evening a couple of hours before the crash.
Molina also had family members at Thursday's sentencing. They chose not to speak but submitted written statements before the hearing.
'You had your chance'
Eckes was charged with automobile homicide for only one of the deaths and was charged with causing serious injury to a second victim. And when that second victim died, the Salt Lake County District Attorney's Office never filed amended charges to reflect the second death.
It is not even clear for which death he pleaded guilty. Court documents in the case do not refer to either victim by name. When his charges were filed, Amber Schneiter was still on life support and the automobile homicide charge was related to the death of a pedestrian — Molina. But the guilty plea Eckes signed said it was for causing the death of a driver. That court document doesn't mention either of the victims' names, either.
A plea deal allowed Eckes to plead guilty to a reduced charge of negligently operating a vehicle resulting in death, a second-degree felony, plus negligently operating a vehicle resulting in serious bodily injury, a third-degree felony. In exchange for those pleas, 12 other charges were dismissed.
Third District Judge Barry Lawrence ordered the maximum sentence possible for Eckes while respecting the plea deal that had been offered by prosecutors and accepted by Eckes and his attorney.
Eckes was ordered to serve a term of between one and 15 years in prison for negligently operating a vehicle involving a death, a second-degree felony; a term of zero to five years in prison for negligently operating a vehicle causing serious injury, a third-degree felony; and as part of a separate case, a term of one to 15 years in prison for theft by receiving property, a second-degree felony. Each of the sentences was ordered to be served consecutive to the others, making the sentence somewhere between two years and 30 years.
"I do believe that, frankly, the facts of this case indicate the most strenuous penalty possible," Lawrence said. "If there isn't consecutive sentences here I don't know what is."
Although he pleaded guilty to negligence, the judge said "reckless" isn't even the right word in this circumstance. He said Eckes caused the death of two people and significant injuries to another person.
"Mr. Eckes, you had your chance, you were on probation when this happened. You were on probation at a time when you fled, ran over two pedestrians and caused a number of accidents. … I'm not giving you that chance again," he said.
A plea deal
Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said the charges in this case were not updated to reflect that two victims had died and not just one victim "because they were part of a negotiated settlement." But the plea deal wasn't reached until about four months after Amber Schneiter died in January.
Gill said in the plea deal, Eckes agreed to face penalties for two second-degree felonies. One of those was from a separate theft case.
"We are pleased that the judge gave Mr. Eckes consecutive sentences that could keep him in prison for up to 30 years. As with almost every resolution, a plea disposition secures the certainty of a conviction while achieving a more expedient outcome than going to trial. In addition, the plea disposition removes the need for appeals that inevitably follow a trial. This particular resolution achieved the maximum possible sentence under the law," Gill said.
Homelessness
Defense attorney Erin Wilson said his client had been homeless for the last year and a half, and had stolen a car in order to find some warmth. He said Eckes did not have extended family to help support him and was raised by a single mom whom he had been alienated from at 18. Wilson said before the crash, Eckes had been up for between four and five days straight, and was not thinking straight.
"One of the biggest issues that this court has is how do we help people without a home?" he asked.
Wilson said Eckes is remorseful and has shown a willingness since he was incarcerated to improve, but the system had previously "set him up for failure." He asked the judge to send Eckes to a two-year residential program that would help him improve his life.
"Jaden cannot get back the lives that he has taken. It is a tragedy, and we sincerely mourn their losses. But it would also be a tragedy to throw away the life of one who is so young. ... He still has a chance, he is not lost to us, and his story does not have to be another tragedy on top of the one that has already been suffered," Wilson said.
Eckes gave a short statement, and told the judge he had found a drug recovery program while in jail on his own, and his mom helped him look up outside treatment options.
"I am willing to get the treatment I need. I am very remorseful about everything that has happened," he told the judge.
The judge said homelessness is not an excuse.
"I understand that you may have been homeless and you may have been lonely, but not every homeless person and not every lonely person and not every person on drugs engages in this kind of (behavior)," he said.
Deputy Salt Lake County district attorney Heather Lindsay said cases like this are the ones that keep prosecutors and judges up at night — when someone with no criminal history escalates, and within six months from being given an opportunity for probation ends up taking two lives.
She said Eckes took advantage of the court system. He was on probation at the time of the crash and had multiple warrants out for his arrest — but he had never checked in with Adult Probation and Parole.
"The defendant has shown this court he is not safe in the community," she said.
She argued that prison is the only way to keep the community safe and ensure Eckes gets the treatment he needs.
