Traffic homicide: sentenced to 3 years for killing 3 people

The accident took place in July 2018 on the A1 in the province of Frosinone and wiped out an entire Calabrian family

Joseph Cross

April 14, 2023

The sentence has arrived for the Piedmontese driver of the 9-seater van who, on 15 July 2018, caused the accident in which Stanislao Acri and his wife Daria Olivo, both thirty-five, and their son Pier Emilio, just six, died months. The sentence is for the crime of vehicular homicide, the penalty is three years in prison.

THE ACCIDENT

The fatal accident in which the Acri family lost their lives was caused by the driver of the van who, colliding with the victim’s Fiat Punto along the south lane of the A1 in the section between the Ceprano and Pontecorvo toll booths at kilometer 654, caused the instantaneous death of all three occupants of the car. Husband, wife and son came from Rome, where they had gone to see a concert, and were returning to Rossano Calabro. The firefighters of Cassino and Frosinone, the 118, the traffic police and even the air ambulance intervened on the spot, but nothing was possible to do to avoid the worst.

ROAD MURDER

After the first investigations by the traffic police, the Cassino public prosecutor’s office opened a file for multiple manslaughter which, however, initially resulted in a storage request. At this point, the lawyers of the victims’ families requested and obtained the change of the charge from multiple homicide to vehicular homicide, which prompted the defendant’s lawyers to request the abbreviated procedure.

BY TAXI FROM ROSSANO

Pain within pain: the mother of Stanislao Acri, an oncological patient, took a taxi with her daughter to get to Cassino and attend the first hearing of the trial for the death of her son. But the hearing did not take place due to the absence of the Gup, which was not communicated to the Acri family.

THE SENTENCE

Almost five years after the fatal accident, now the sentence has finally arrived: the driver of the van, accused of the crime of road murder, was sentenced to three years in prison with the interdiction from public offices, the revocation of the and the payment of court costs. The prosecutor had asked for a sentence of three years and four months, but the Gup accepted the argument of the defense and reduced the sentence by a few months. That seems very little, just a year in prison for each person killed in the accident, but that’s what they predict articles 589-bis and 589-ter of the Penal Codei.e. those that regulate the crime of vehicular homicide.

FROM 2 TO 18 YEARS IN PRISON

The crime of vehicular homicide provides that “anyone who causes the death of a person through violation of the regulations on road traffic is punished with imprisonment from 2 to 7 years”. However there are various aggravating circumstances which can carry the sentence up to 18 years. For example if the driver of the car causing the fatal accident was driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs (8 to 12 years old). Or if the speed at the moment of impact was equal to or greater than twice the permitted speed (from 5 to 10 years). Or if the defendant ran a red light, was traveling against traffic, made a U-turn near an intersection, on a curve or on a bump (from 5 to 10 years). If the person who committed the crime is without a driving licence, because it was never obtained, suspended or revoked, or without insurance, then the penalty is increased up to one third. If, then, the accident causes damage or death to more people, then the penalty can be increased up to three times, for a maximum of 18 years of imprisonment. In the specific case, however, the defendant requested the abbreviated procedure thus obtaining a reduction of a third of the sentence, which is further reduced by a sixth if the convict does not challenge the sentence.



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