Convicted Defendant Won’t Serve Jail Time for Vehicular Homicide

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A man received suspended sentences for negligent homicide in the aftermath of a 2018 vehicular homicide that killed two women. 

More than one year ago, Gerard James pleaded guilty to two counts of negligent homicide for striking 61-year-old Monica Adams Carlson and her 85-year-old mother, Cora Louise Adams, with a bus at the intersection of 7th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, on Dec. 19, 2018. According to court documents, James was driving the bus for a private company, D.C. Witness previously reported.

NBC reported that Carlson was the mayor of Skagway, Ak.

During the Oct. 8 hearing, defense attorney Todd Baldwin argued that, because his client is the sole caretaker of his elderly relatives, and because of the risk of COVID-19 exposure at DC Jail, James should not have to serve jail time.

Baldwin also said his client, “has already learned the lesson that any amount of jail time could teach him.”

A family member of the victims also expressed that they prefer the defendant be sentenced to community service, rather than a period of incarceration. 

For each count, Judge Danya Dayson sentenced James to two years, all of which was suspended, plus two years of supervised probation. Conditions of his probation include completing  100 hours of community service and participating in a traffic safety program. 

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