Convicted hit-and-run suspect gets 8 years

The driver who pleaded guilty to fleeing the accident that killed IU student Ashley Crouse last year received a penalty of eight years in prison Thursday, the maximum sentence for his charges. \nWith good behavior, Meliton Praxedis, 21, will spend a little more than three years in Monroe County's detention center. His detainment since April 15, 2005, four days after the accident, will also be credited toward his overall sentence duration. \nSince he is not an American citizen, the state will deport him to Mexico after he serves his time. \nBecause Praxedis and the state entered into a plea agreement that would prevent the prosecution from submitting any recommendations to heighten the sentence, Monroe County Circuit Judge Marc Kellams reviewed other filed documents to search for mitigating or aggravating factors himself. \nAfter Kellams discovered a police interview with the owner of the car Praxedis allegedly drove, he found statements claiming the defendant was intoxicated at the time of the accident. Kellams made a point to go on the record as to what aggravating circumstances led him to his final decision -- Praxedis' possible intoxication. \nBut Public Defender David Collins protested the unorthodox use of circumstances not originally brought forward by the prosecution. \n"I would object to that as hearsay," Collins said. "We don't know whether one beer or two beers is (drinking) heavily for him. That would demand a jury trial." \nCollins disputed the legality of the judge's actions. He said the prosecution should have brought in the reporting police officer to testify if the state wanted the judge to consider certain aggravators. \nHe also referred to a recently decided case, Smylie v. State of Indiana. In Smylie, a judge sentenced a defendant who molested his stepdaughter with a penalty heightened from the initial charge. A court later ruled that an enhancement based on information discovered by that judge -- not the prosecution -- violated Smylie's Sixth Amendment right to a jury trial. \nKellams asserted he was in the right, specifically citing that he wanted the record to reveal how he had come to his conclusion on the defendant's punishment. \n"I could issue a sentence without any record," Kellams said. \nMonroe County Prosecutor Jeffrey Kehr would not give his opinion on whether a jury should hear the circumstances the judge found aggravating. \n"That's for the court of appeals to determine," he said. \nWhen Kellams asked whether Praxedis would like to appeal the sentence, his interpreter said he wished to pursue it. \nCollins abstained from speaking to the press about the possible appeal. He has 30 days to file the case for his client. \nAlthough the members of Crouse's sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma, her boyfriend Chris Carlson and parents Kim and Mary Beth Crouse declined to comment, both her father and mother were present for the sentencing Thursday. In a previous hearing, they expressed wishes for the maximum sentence in sworn testimonies. \n"Being the fact that the defendant watched (Ashley) lay on the street dying and was only concerned with himself, I have no compassion for this person," Crouse's father told the Indiana Daily Student Dec. 14, 2005. \nAt that same hearing, Praxedis offered Crouse's parents an apology and asked for their forgiveness through the assistance of an interpreter. \nU.S. Marshals arrested Praxedis in Delaware on April 15, 2005. \nOfficials had struggled to locate the suspect because he did not possess a valid driver's license or form of identification, police said. \nAfter the IU Police Department obtained an eyewitness sketch of the suspect, New Castle, Del., police were able to match a photograph with the IUPD composite image. \nAccording to police reports, Crouse, Carlson and IU student Julie Greenbaum entered the intersection of Hawthorne Drive and Third Street the night of April 11, 2005, when a gray Honda station wagon, allegedly driven by Praxedis, struck their red Jeep. The vehicles both skidded into the lawn by the Kappa Kappa Gamma house, the sorority where Crouse had lived. \nAt the intersection, the students' Jeep approached a flashing red traffic light while the station wagon had a flashing yellow light, according to the reports. \nPraxedis allegedly fled on foot before police arrived at the scene. \nPolice reports state that Crouse, who was in the back seat of the Jeep, landed five feet from the vehicle after the impact. She was the only passenger not wearing a seat belt, according to the report. \nBloomington Hospital medics pronounced Crouse dead at 12:09 a.m. April 12, 2005.