Christopher Parker, 50, receives his sentence today in Barnstable District Court.
Photo by Paul Blackmore/Cape Cod Times
By Stephanie Vosk Cape Cod Times
July 25, 2007
Christopher Parker was sentenced to two and a half years in the Barnstable County Correctional Facility after pleading guilty to motor vehicle homicide today in Barnstable District Court.
The last six months of his sentence will be suspended, and he will submit to two years of probation upon his release.
Parker was charged in the March 5 death of Diane Carhart, 63, of Forestdale.
He will also serve 10 days in prison, concurrently, for driving with a suspended license at the time of the accident.
Parker was traveling southbound down Route 130 in Sandwich when his Honda Accord slammed into the back of Carhart’s Chevy Tracker, sending her careening into an oncoming NStar truck. She was taken to the Forestdale School to await flight to Boston when it was determined she had died.
Parker’s inattention as he bent down to adjust a portable radio caused the crash, police determined.
Carhart’s daughter, Susan Linhares of Mattapoisett, read impact statements from herself and her brother, John Everett of Williams, Ariz., in court yesterday.
Francine Abbott, who was driving the NStar truck, also read a statement.
“Because of you, my life and my family’s life has been altered. Since that day, I’ve lived in pain and fear,” Abbott read to Parker. “What should have been a typical work day for me turned into a nightmare.”
Parker has a lengthy driving infraction record, which includes four drunken driving convictions, dating back to 1982. He also has a case pending in Falmouth District Court on a charge of operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of drugs in October in Bourne.
Read more on this story in tomorrow’s Cape Cod Times.
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