Jail for driver in alcohol-soaked fatal crash

PROVO — On the way down from Preston, Idaho, to Saratoga Springs one day in August 2008, driver Danny Taylor and his two passengers consumed 36 cans of beer.

But when police responded to a fatal rollover accident later that day on state Road 68, Taylor's blood alcohol level was only .06 — below the legal limit of .08.

That's an important fact, his attorney says, but it doesn't excuse Taylor's negligent driving that killed his passenger and friend Brenda Dee Van Ausdal, 40, who was ejected in the crash and died at the scene.

"He came here to accept responsibility," defense attorney Gregory Smith said Wednesday at Taylor's sentencing, and Taylor nodded in agreement. "He has to live with this for the rest of his life."

This is the first time 53-year-old Taylor has ever been to court, Smith said.

"He was in the Army. He learned discipline," Smith said. "He was married to a great gal and decided to allow himself to be pulled in a different direction."

And that pulling came from Van Ausdal and her sister, Smith said.

Taylor originally was charged with a second-degree felony, but because of the concerns over evidence, prosecutors worked out a plea deal and dropped the charge to a third-degree felony of automobile homicide.

Taylor pleaded guilty in March, and on Wednesday, he was sentenced to a year in jail.

"It does appear the victim contributed to the circumstances," said prosecutor Randy Kennard. "She was an adult. She was knowingly drinking in a vehicle with the defendant. It's not a basis to excuse, but we do realize that this case is somewhat different than another case where a completely innocent person would have been injured."

Judge Lynn Davis acknowledged that the victim had consumed a large amount of alcohol and marijuana and was not wearing a seat belt.

"(She) had made some (decisions) as it relates to her own personal safety," he said.

However, Van Ausdal's husband, Doug Llewellyn, called the jail sentence a "slap on the hand" for Taylor.

"There is no remorse in this fellow," he told Davis. "(Taylor) wasn't coerced by her into that lifestyle. He, in fact, has been in that lifestyle for a long time. In my eyes, life in prison is too good for him."

Llewellyn told Davis that Van Ausdal has four daughters, one son and two grandsons who have to live with this every day, and they never got an apology letter.

Along with a full year in jail with no good time or GPS release, Taylor also was ordered to complete any necessary mental-health and substance-abuse treatment, pay any to-be-decided restitution and write a letter of apology to the family.

E-mail: sisraelsen@desnews.com