LARAMIE, Wyo. (AP) A judge refused on Monday to lower bond for a University of Wyoming student charged in the deaths of eight fellow student-athletes in a head-on collision.
District Judge Jeffrey A. Donnell set a Feb. 25 trial date for Clinton Guy Haskins, 21, of Maybell, Colo., who is free on $100,000 bond.
Haskins has pleaded innocent to eight counts of aggravated vehicular homicide in the Sept. 16 wreck. If convicted, he faces up to 160 years in prison and a fine of up to $80,000.
”It suffices to say the nature of the offense is of utmost seriousness, as are the circumstances,” Donnell said in rejecting defense attorney Michael Krampner’s motion to lower bond to $25,000.
Haskins allegedly drove his pickup truck across the center line on U.S. 287 south of Laramie and struck a Jeep Wagoneer, instantly killing eight members of the cross-country and track teams.
Prosecutors allege Haskins, a senior member of the UW rodeo team, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.16 percent, above the legal limit of 0.10 percent.
Krampner called four witnesses to testify on Haskins’ character and whether he is a risk for fleeing or a threat to the community.
Haskins’ father, Dale, a real estate agent, said his son has not driven or consumed alcohol since the collision and turned himself in after he was released from the hospital.
Under questioning by Krampner, the elder Haskins talked about the strain of posting $100,000 cash.
”We have a lot of support from the community where we live,” he said softly. ”The family came up with some and we borrowed some.”
Albany County Attorney Cal Rerucha repeatedly referred to the younger Haskins’ three arrests as a minor in possession of alcohol, twice in 1998 and again in 2000.
In one case, Haskins had become rude and belligerent and banged on a door at White Hall dormitory, and another time he used a false ID to get into a bar and lied to officers, Rerucha said.
Dale Haskins said his son underwent treatment after the second incident but not after the third.
UW student and rodeo teammate Sunnie Fish, Laramie ranch manager Chip Adamson, who employed Haskins, and Haskins’ former wrestling coach Donald Guffy, of Craig, Colo., testified he is trustworthy and not a troublemaker.
The UW athletes killed in the wreck were Joshua D. Jones, 22, of Salem, Ore.; Kevin L. Salverson, 19, of Cheyenne; Nicholas J. Schabron, 20, of Laramie; Shane E. Shatto, 19, of Douglas; Morgan J. McLeland, 21, of Gillette; Kyle N. Johnson, 20, of Riverton; Justin M. Lambert-Belanger, 20, of Timmins, Ontario; and Cody B. Brown, 21, of Hudson, Colo.