Driver’s sentence to be cut

The man who blew through a North Side intersection and killed 15-year-old Tesia Parris two years ago will have his prison term cut at least in half today.

Abdulwahab Al-Jazairy, 23, won’t have far to go for the hearing in which Spokane County Superior Court Judge Sam Cozza will be forced to slash his sentence because of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision.

Al-Jazairy has been in a nearby courtroom all week for a civil trial in which Parris’ parents are attempting to collect damages from him and the Washington State Patrol.

The Parris family lawsuit claims the WSP is partially responsible because a trooper was attempting to stop Al-Jazairy when the accident occurred. At issue is whether Trooper Robert Fiorentino’s efforts to catch up with Al-Jazairy constituted an improper “pursuit.”

If the jury finds the WSP even slightly responsible and if the Parrises are unable to collect from Al-Jazairy, a Saudi Arabian citizen, the state could have to pay all of any judgment the jury awards.

Another jury convicted Al-Jazairy last year of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault in the July 2, 2002, crash at the intersection of Francis and Monroe. The jury rejected a first-degree murder charge.

Al-Jazairy was speeding east in the center turn lane of Francis at freeway speeds when he ran a red light at Monroe and struck a northbound Ford F-350 pickup. The truck was driven by Blanchard, Idaho, resident Harry Parris, who was on his way home with his wife, Celeste Seidler, and their three children, Tesia, Tawni and Tori.

Harry Parris recovered from his injuries, a concussion and facial wounds, but Tesia was ejected from the vehicle and killed. The other family members weren’t seriously injured. Al-Jazairy was hospitalized with a head injury and broken ribs when the Mitsubishi 3000 GT sports car he was driving went airborne and landed upside down in a Safeway parking lot.

Calling Al-Jazairy’s actions “foolish, stupid and unnecessary,” Cozza sentenced him to 6 3/4 years in prison – almost twice the standard maximum of 41 months.

The above-standard sentence was undercut in June, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that defendants have a right to have juries, not judges, determine aggravating factors used to justify above-standard sentences.

The civil trial, in which the Parris family is seeking unspecified damages, got under way Monday. It is expected to take two to three weeks.

In testimony Wednesday and Thursday, Trooper Fiorentino said he was west of Ash when he spotted Al-Jazairy driving erratically and making improper lane changes. What would have been an infraction jumped to reckless driving when Al-Jazairy pulled into the center turn lane to speed around other traffic, the trooper said.

Fiorentino said he was about six cars behind Al-Jazairy when he turned on his flashing lights, but not his siren, and attempted to catch up. He said he accelerated to 70 mph while trying to overtake Al-Jazairy, who he estimated was driving 60 to 65 mph.

“Didn’t you double the danger to the public?” Parris family attorney Kevin Mahoney asked.

“I’m a professional driver,” Fiorentino replied. “I was very much in control of my vehicle at all times.”

Fiorentino said he didn’t activate his siren because he assumed he wasn’t close enough for Al-Jazairy to hear it, and because he feared other motorists “may have reacted improperly and pulled in front of Mr. Al-Jazairy and myself.”

The trooper said he didn’t consider the incident a pursuit because he never saw any evidence that Al-Jazairy was aware of him. Under WSP policy, pursuit rules don’t take effect until a suspect shows signs of trying to elude an officer, Fiorentino said.

He said he didn’t realize until Al-Jazairy was nearly at the Monroe intersection that Al-Jazairy wasn’t going to be able to stop for the red light.

Al-Jazairy hasn’t taken the stand in the civil trial, but he testified in his criminal trial that he was unaware of Fiorentino until moments before the crash. He said he panicked when he saw the trooper’s lights in his mirror.

“I was speeding. Then the car I was driving, I thought it was stolen. My driver’s license was suspended. I just didn’t think straight,” Al-Jazairy testified.

He claimed he was unable to stop because the car’s brakes failed, but tests showed there was nothing wrong with the brakes.

Al-Jazairy’s fears about being caught in a stolen car referred to a dispute between the car’s owner and a friend of Al-Jazairy’s who was in the process of buying the vehicle.

Al-Jazairy said he was returning the car to its owner, who had threatened to send police to his home, where his friend had parked the vehicle.

“It was a really fast car,” Al-Jazairy said at the criminal trial. “It was like a rocket.”