LAKEPORT — Jack B. Green was a beloved family man, a U.S. Navy veteran who served in World War II and Korea, and a longtime county resident, his son told a Lake County courtroom Monday.
Green, 85, died in December 2009 after spending more than three months in several hospitals because of injuries he sustained in a head-on collision on the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff on Sept. 15, 2009.
On Monday, Judge Andrew S. Blum sentenced the driver who caused that car crash to 20 years to life in state prison.
Barton Farris West, 57, of Lucerne, pleaded no contest in March to second-degree murder and admitted to a special allegation of having a prior serious-felony conviction outside of California.
West”s plea resolved the case against him stemming from the September 2009 incident. He had faced a total of four felonies and several special allegations for his role in the crash.
California Highway Patrol officers testified during a preliminary hearing in October that witnesses reported seeing West”s Toyota Tercel traveling westbound on the cutoff but drifting several times into the eastbound lane, according to court transcripts.
The Tercel sideswiped a Dodge Caravan before striking Green”s Ford Focus, according to officers” testimony. Green sustained major injuries, was transported to Santa Rosa and spent the following months in several hospitals.
A Lake County District Attorney”s Office investigator testified that Green died on Dec. 29, 2009 in a Nevada hospital and a subsequent autopsy found that “multiple injuries due to blunt force trauma due to a motor vehicle collision” caused Green”s death.
Investigators found West”s blood alcohol content to be nearly triple the legal limit, according to court documents. West had been on probation for a November 2008 DUI conviction at the time of the crash.
Blum said that while making a sentencing decision, he considered West”s poor prior parole and probation records, that West had a history of substance abuse and had been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the crash.
Green”s three adult children, Linda Herrera, John Green and Laura Stanley, each spoke to the court Monday and directly addressed West before Blum pronounced the sentence.
Herrera described her father”s difficult final months in hospital beds while being sedated and on ventilators. “He couldn”t say ”I love you” or hold his kids,” she said.
John Green briefly discussed his father”s life, and then showed West photographs of his father before and after the crash, saying his father had sustained significant injuries, including broken ribs, hips, back and neck bones.
Stanley described the sorrow felt by her and her family as a result of the crash and asked West to try to turn his life around while in prison.
One of Green”s three grandchildren and one of his four great-grandchildren were also present at the Lake County Courthouse.
Blum sentenced West to 15 years to life for the murder count and added a five-year enhancement for the prior serious-felony conviction, resulting in an aggregate term of 20 years to life. West received credit for 588 days already served.
The judge also ordered West to pay court fees and restitution fines, but reserved pronouncement of a final amount, pending determination of totals required by Green”s family and by two other drivers whose vehicles were struck by West on Sept. 15, 2009.
Green”s son called the sentence “appropriate” and commended the DA”s Office for getting the murder conviction.
Contact Jeremy Walsh at jwalsh@record-bee.com or call him at 263-5636, ext. 37.
