Prineville man gets 4 months in fatal ATV crash
A 32-year-old Prineville man has been sentenced to four months in jail after pleading no contest to crashing an ATV on his property last Feb. 1, killing a 22-year-old passenger.
Mason Stafford was in Crook County Circuit Court on Thursday, where Judge Annette Hillman imposed the 120-day jail term on one count of criminally negligent homicide, said District Attorney Daina Vitolines.
Sheriff’s deputies said alcohol was believed to be a contributing factor to the crash that killed Tyler Pierce. Another passenger also was injured. Family members said later Stafford was Pierce’s soon-to-be stepbrother and a close friend of Pierce, a Crook County High graduate who was engaged to be married last summer.
After his jail sentence, Stafford faces five years of supervised probation and must serve 240 hours of community service and pay a $5,000 fine, Vitolins said. The judge also ordered that he undergo an alcohol treatment program and not consume alcohol, nor go to bars, taverns or other places where alcohol is the chief item of sale.
Stafford had pleaded not guilty last April to the original charges, which included second-degree manslaughter and two counts of recklessly endangering. Prosecutors said the plea agreement based based on a review of the evidence, consultations with the victim’s family and how other similar cases have been treated, noting that Stafford still faces a prison term if he violates the terms of his probation.
