Battles Gets Five Years In Potter Hit-And-Run Cover-Up

A 20-year-old Bend man involved in trying to cover up Kimberly Ann Potter’s violenthit-and-run death on Bend’s Third Street nearly a year ago was sentenced Friday to five years behind bars for his role in the crime.

In the early hours of April 1, 2007, Potter was riding her bike down Third Street when a Mercedes-Benz struck and killed her.Police called it one of the most gruesomecrime scenes they’d ever seen.

The car later was found torched off China Hat Road, south of town.

Four men were charged in the fatal hit and run and attempted cover-up. On Friday, Robert Battles went before Deschutes County Circuit Judge Michael Sullivan for his sentencing, two weeks after pleading guilty to those and other charges.

Battles told the judge he’d battled a drug addiction he says led him to make poor choices.

“I started selling drugs for easy money and to support my drug use,” he said reading from a piece of paper in his hands. “I have not been sober since i was 15 years old. Your honor, i did not realize how wrong it was until now.”

Battles was not in the car that killed Potter, but admitted to helping burn the carin a bid to cover up the crime.

Facing up to a five-year sentence, Battles read a statement he wrote to the judge,apologizing andasking for forgiveness for his actions, which included threatening his mother with a gun and warning her not to talk to police or testify against him.

“I especially want to apologize to my mom and dad,” he said in court. “They witnessed first-hand the worst of my actions.”

“I look forward to a chance to prove to them I can accomplish more in life after I get through all this and finally make them proud.”

“I also want to apologize to the victims and their families and to the community for the trouble I’ve caused.”

Unimpressed and speaking of Battles’ string of crimes, Sullivan sentenced Battles to the maximum five years in prison, where he can undergo chemical dependency treatment.

Eric Allen Brown, 21, a passenger in the car at the time of the deadly collision, pleaded guilty earlier, withoutadmitting wrongdoing, and was sentenced to three years probation.

The trial of the suspected driver, Christopher Goodson, 23, isscheduled to start April 22. Goodson’s father, George,who was also charged with helping with the cover-up, died of a drug overdose a month after the crime.