From Deseret News archives:
Ex-con now charged with automobile homicide
Shane Allen Leonelli, 23, was charged earlier this month in 2nd District Court in Farmington in connection with the death of Brock Valempre, 26, on April 26, 2007.
Valempre, of Tooele, was killed in a head-on collision on the frontage road in front of Lagoon, according to news reports of that day.
Leonelli was reportedly weaving and swerving prior to the crash, ultimately swerving into oncoming traffic, said Davis County deputy district attorney Troy Rawlings. His blood-alcohol content that night was 0.24, three times the legal limit, according to court documents.
An automobile homicide charge, a third-degree felony, wasn't filed in court, however, until this month. Rawlings said there was a reason for that, other than waiting for toxicology tests to be completed.
"It's nothing we can talk about until the appropriate time," he said. "We don't want to unfairly prejudice the case."
This isn't the first time Leonelli has been in the news.
In 2004, Leonelli was one of six members of the Tooele High School baseball team charged in 5th District Court in Washington County with sexual exploitation of a minor, a second-degree felony. Leonelli was 18 at the time and was charged as an adult. The baseball team was in St. George for a tournament when several players invited a 15-year-old girl, also in town for a softball tournament, into their hotel room after dark. One of the boys videotaped the girl involved in incidents of sexual contact with members of the team.
The case was eventually transferred to 3rd District Court in Tooele, closer to where Leonelli lived, and he pleaded guilty to an amended class B misdemeanor. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail and put on 12 months probation, according to court records.
Leonelli was charged in another crime in 2006 in Manti's 6th District Court with an amended charge of drug distribution, a third-degree felony. That case is still pending. A status conference on the case was scheduled for Wednesday.
Rawlings called Leonelli's current situation a "sad case" because of the tragic loss of a life.
E-mail: preavy@desnews.com
