Merritt sentenced to 40 years for fatal crash

A man who pled guilty last month to aggravated vehicular homicide received a maximum 40-year sentence Monday, even as the career criminal tried to withdraw his guilty plea.

Claude David Merritt, 66, asked defense attorney Jack Dearing to withdraw his plea of guilty for causing the death of Mildred Misch over a year ago.

But Circuit Court Judge Robert Crigler immediately denied the motion, saying that there was no just reason for changing Merritt's plea, reminding him of the extensive list of questions the judge asked before accepting the guilty plea last month in Lynchburg.

According to assistant district attorney Mike Randles, Merritt's extensive criminal history classifies him as a range two multiple offender, meaning that he could get from 25 to 40 years for the charge of aggravated vehicular homicide.

Two counts of reckless endangerment and driving on a revoked license, third offense, were dropped last month as part of the plea agreement with Merritt.

Randles said that Merritt had convictions dating back to 1963, a felony conviction in 1968 and an extensive list of charges extending all the way to the present day.

"The only time when there is a major gap is in the 1980's when he had a 10-year sentence for armed robbery," Randles said, and he suspected that is why there were no charges listed for that decade.

Randles described Merritt's criminal record as "steady and constant" to the T-G.

Dearing asked Judge Crigler to give Merritt a minimum sentence, but after reading the pre-sentence report, Crigler handed down the 40-year prison term.

The accident, which happened on Oct. 17, 2008, occurred in front of Heritage Medical Center when Merritt's van struck a station wagon in which Misch was a passenger. Police said at the time that Merritt "didn't know what had happened."

Merritt also had veered into the path of the vehicle driven by James Earl Hill Jr. Hill and another passenger, Susan Martin, were treated at Heritage after his car ran off the roadway, down an embankment and into a field following impact, police said at the time.

Merritt had a blood alcohol level of 0.11 and also had traces of the drug diazepam in his system, Randles said during last month's hearing.

Misch was airlifted to Vanderbilt Medical Center's trauma center after initial treatment at Heritage, and was in the Intensive Care Unit for 11 days. Following that, she was transferred to another hospital and had to rely on a ventilator and feeding tube for survival.

She was eventually transferred to a nursing home in Michigan, where she died in April from the injuries she suffered last year.

Misch never regained consciousness after the accident.

The indictment against Merritt, handed down in May, said that death was the result of his intoxication and that he had three prior DUI convictions.

Merritt was initially charged with DUI (fourth offense) and driving on a revoked/suspended license and admitted to police he had consumed several beers.

During his plea last month, Merritt told Crigler that he may be guilty of homicide in the death, "but not the aggravated part."

However, Crigler explained to Merritt that his previous DUI charges resulted in the charges of aggravated vehicular homicide.