Maximum Penalty Sought In Fatal Crash Show No Mercy To Drunken Driver Who Killed Couple, Baby, Say Kin

The families of a Moscow couple are rallying for the maximum sentence for the drunken driver who ran a stop sign and smashed into the couple’s station wagon, killing them and their baby.

Douglas Dixon, 36, pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter after that October 1996 wreck. But the parents of the victims, Dennis and Kristina Barnett, are worried the Adams County prosecutor will recommend just a three-year sentence.

The families see that as a slap on the wrist.

The victims’ families said Prosecutor Charles Kroll sat down with them last month. They said he told them Dixon needed jail time but that more than three years would hurt his children.

“I guess that’s really noble,” said Kristina Barnett’s 19-year-old sister, Holly Olson. “(But) justice has to be done, and you can’t take that into consideration.”

“We were all shocked, because we feel it was a personal, conscious decision he made to get drunk,” said Kristina Barnett’s mother, Dianna Olson. “It’s saying to us that each one’s life is worth one year.”

The Idaho Code allows for up to 10 years in jail for each count of vehicular manslaughter - in this case, 30 years.

Olson wants Kroll to recommend the maximum penalty, even if the judge’s actual sentence is lighter.

The pastor of the Moscow Church of the Nazarene, where the victims attended, is even readying his congregation of 700 to write the prosecutor in protest.

Kroll was not available for comment. A staff member answering for him said that Kroll has yet to recommend a sentence. Dixon’s sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 5.

Dixon was out of town this week with his 10-year-old son and could not be reached for comment. His step-daughter, 17-year-old Sara Dixon, said the two were spending as much time as possible together before the sentencing.

She thinks throwing her stepfather in prison will only hurt her younger siblings. “They need their dad,” she said.

“I feel just as bad as that family, and my stepdad would trade places with them in a heartbeat,” she said of the Barnetts.

The Barnetts were killed last Oct. 6 on U.S. Highway 95 near New Meadows, on their way to visit Dennis Barnett’s parents.

The wreck happened just hours after the couple had a picture taken to send on Christmas cards.

“I’ve got that picture of them and I’ll treasure it forever,” Dianna Olson said.

According to Idaho State Police reports, Dixon ran away from the scene. The Olsons were so sick with grief, neighbors had to help the farmers with the fall harvest. “We were zombies,” Olson said.

“We have nothing against Mr. Dixon as a person,” she said, but she added that she and other family members want a clear message sent out about drinking and driving.

Dennis Barnett’s mother isn’t as restrained.

“To me, it’s premeditated murder,” said Debbie Barnett, who lives in New Meadows. Barnett said Dixon chose to drink and drive, and therefore was responsible for the deaths.

The Barnetts have no children left - their teenage daughter was killed three years ago in an auto accident.

“It’s pretty much left us with nothing,” Barnett said. “It’s ruined my husband’s and my life and any pleasure in the future.”

Sara Dixon defends her stepfather, saying he made the most horrible of mistakes.

“My stepdad is the most wonderful person,” she said. “He’s a wonderful father, and I love him dearly.

“His punishment is himself … he’ll have to live with it. That’s the worst punishment.”

, DataTimes