Judge regrets sentencing limits in fatal DUI

OGDEN — Only eight weeks ago, Wendy Kerbs was tending flowers in her Roy front yard when a drunk behind the wheel zoomed onto the grass and smashed into her, leaving her dying in the arms of her husband, Marlin.

The driver, Richard Bash, took off running, broke into a nearby house to hide and then sneaked into another car. Police caught him, but Bash was so combative and uncooperative he refused to let police get a blood sample to test his alcohol and methamphetamine levels until they got a search warrant.

A much more subdued Bash, 40, stood in handcuffs and shackles before 2nd District Judge Pamela Heffernan on Tuesday and said he was sorry.

Bash said he had been suffering from severe depression for two or three days and on May 13 he repeatedly tried to kill himself.

"I had no intentions of anyone else getting hurt," he said. "I am terribly sorry from the bottom of my heart."

Police say Bash was driving more than 50 mph on a residential street, lost control of his SUV while trying to pass another car, smashed into a light pole, rolled his vehicle and ended up crashing into Wendy Kerbs, 54.

Bash was charged with automobile homicide, a second-degree felony, which is the toughest charge that can be brought in a case of this nature under Utah's existing laws, according to Weber County Attorney Dee Smith. The penalty for a second-degree felony is one to 15 years in prison.

Smith noted that Bash has seven prior DUI convictions in various states, as well as convictions for other crimes that date back to 1987.

The judge said she was limited by state law as to the sentence she could impose for a second-degree felony and explained she could not do anything more before giving Bash the one-to-15-year prison term.

Heffernan said anyone hearing of the accident probably reacted with "absolute horror," and she said "tragic" is probably not the appropriate word to describe what happened.

"There is no sentence that could provide adequate justice in this situation," she said.

The judge said she believed Bash truly is remorseful but also said she thinks he is capable of doing something like this again, which worries her because Bash eventually will be released.

Several of Kerbs' friends and relatives addressed the court and recalled her as a good-hearted and generous person with a strong work ethic and an even stronger love for the people in her life.

Brad Kerbs, the victim's son, said his mother was his role model.

"Even after she was diagnosed with MS (multiple sclerosis), she became even more passionate about her friends and family, and she told me that nothing was more important."

Outside the courtroom Smith said that prosecutors have only two options in cases such as this: charging automobile homicide as either a second-degree felony or a third-degree felony, which carries a possible prison term of zero to five years.

"It would be up to the Legislature to impose stiffer penalties," Smith said. "I think it would be good to have enhancements (added prison time) if someone had prior DUIs."

E-mail: lindat@desnews.com