John Barton was sentenced to dual life sentences yesterday for killing a wonderful mother and her daughter in April.
Barton had the nerve to tell the jury that he never meant to hurt anyone that night as he darted in and out of traffic at a speed of 134 m.p.h. with a BAC of three times the legal limit. Unbelievable.
He had already been convicted three times for DWI and was not allowed to drink or drive his 2010 Mazda unless it had an ignition interlock as conditions of his parole. But this scum bag revealed that he had never even bought the locking device because “I didn’t want to spend the money.” Unbelievable.
But he could afford to drink a lot of booze. Bar receipts showed that he may have consumed 34 alcoholic beverages that night. Unbelievable.
No one from his parole office knew any of this. Unbelievable.
Barton killed Kandall Hull, who had just moved to our area and was about to take her medical school entrance exams, and her beautiful 13 year old daughter, Autumn Caudle.
Hull’s husband, Tony, and their two other children, 16 year old Dominique and 12 year old Jacob, were also injured in this horrific crash.
Barton was also sentenced to 20 years on each of the three intoxication assault with a vehicle charges. He will be eligible for parole after 30 years. I hope he never gets back on our highways.
I support Mothers Against Drunk Driving and sue drunk drivers. I hope that this tragedy leads to our state legislature increasing penalties, beefing up probation offices, and cracking down on bars that get these drunks so drunk in the first place.