Mr. Wahome, left, yesterday with Mr. Bowser. (T&G Staff / RICK CINCLAIR)
DUDLEY
— After having more than 10 weeks to think about it, Geoffrey K. Wahome, convicted of two motor vehicle homicides, has accepted his one-year jail sentence.
On the morning of Aug. 1, 2009, a car driven by Mr. Wahome, 22, of Lowell, a native of Kenya, struck and killed Robert G. Farner, 81, and Chloe K. Farner, 77, while they were changing a tire on their travel trailer in the breakdown lane on Interstate 395 in Webster.
The Farners, of Cottonwood Shores, Texas, were en route to Springville, N.Y., to visit friends. They had just left their son Steven’s home in Putnam. Mr. and Mrs. Farner were married for 57 years and had six children, 16 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Mr. Wahome was headed north on I-395 in his 2006 Nissan Altima when it strayed into the breakdown lane and plowed into the couple’s pickup truck and camper, according to the state police report. State police said the car swerved into the left lane, then back into the right lane, and that the car rolled over, coming to rest on its roof near a wooded area past the breakdown lane. The Farners were pronounced dead at the scene.
Mr. Wahome told police he was heading home from an 11 p.m. concert in New Jersey and had taken two rest stops on the way. State Trooper John DeNapoli concluded Mr. Wahome’s “fatigue and inattention” contributed to the crash. Mr. Wahome was treated after the accident for injuries that were not life-threatening.
Mr. Wahome said his car did not come in contact with the parked vehicle or the two people standing near it. But state police found the Farners’ blood and other DNA matter on various parts of Mr. Wahome’s car. Also, paint chips and plastic pieces matching Mr. Wahome’s car were removed from the victims’ bodies, the trooper’s report said.
The couple’s pickup truck and camper were completely out of the travel lane and well off the fog line, state police concluded.
Judge Neil G. Snider sentenced Mr. Wahome on June 25 to 60 days in the House of Correction for two counts of motor vehicle homicide by negligent driving. However, on July 9, Judge Snider revoked and revised the sentence to a full year after learning that some of the facts presented to the court by the defendant about his status as a college student proved to be false.
At the time of the re-sentencing on July 9, defense lawyer Michael S. Bowser said Mr. Wahome was not prepared to make a decision on whether to withdraw his guilty plea. Yesterday afternoon, the shackled Mr. Wahome, wearing a blue dress shirt, dark dress slacks and stocking feet, acknowledged his wrongdoings and accepted the year sentence, with 89 days served.
Mr. Bowser originally recommended Mr. Wahome be sentenced to two concurrent 6-month terms in the House of Correction, with 30 days to be served and the balance suspended for 2 years, while Assistant District Attorney Scarlett Scannell recommended 2-1/2 years in the House of Correction for one of the motor vehicle homicide charges.
On July 1, the district attorney’s office filed a motion asking Judge Snider to reconsider Mr. Wahome’s sentence based on new information the Telegram & Gazette had uncovered about the defendant’s alleged academic studies. Assistant District Attorney Kathleen DelloStritto said the defendant misled the judge and the district attorney’s office by making them believe he was a student at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, had been a student there for four years, and had two years to complete his doctorate in pharmacy, none of which was true.
Citing Rule 29 on court law, which gives a trial judge the power to revise or revoke a sentence if it appears that justice may not have been served, Judge Snider said he had decided to revise and revoke Mr. Wahome’s sentence on his own, not because of the DA’s request. Judge Snider said he based his original decision, on great part, on the belief that Mr. Wahome was working toward a pharmacy degree at UMass at Lowell.
Yesterday was the first time Mr. Wahome’s family was not noticeably visible in court for deliberation on the case.
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