Tears, pain and loss in a Madras court as Bend woman sentenced to 25 years in crash that killed 3 in Warm Springs family

MADRAS, Ore. (KTVZ) – A Bend woman listened Friday afternoon to the evidence against her and the tearful pain expressed by relatives, friends, a supervisor and coaches of three members of a tight-knit Warm Springs family she killed in a 2022 head-on crash, then stood and said: “I wish I could trade my life for theirs. I wish I didn't survive.”

“There’s no proper way to address a situation this terrible,” Audrey McHugh, 30, told Jefferson County Circuit Judge Annette Hillman and those in the courtroom, days after she agreed to a plea deal that will send her to prison for 25 years.

“I’ve broken many hearts, and caused hardship for everyone in this room,” she said, while acknowledging, “I have no idea what you’re going through, every day.”

Despite what's been characterized as lack of remorse, McHugh talked of the impact of what happened when she passed not just one, but at least two vehicles in icy, very foggy conditions on Highway 26 near Madras on a trip back from her hairdresser in Portland.

"To have another's life, death on your hands leaves a heavy mark on your soul, and I guarantee it will haunt me for nothing short of a lifetime."

"And I'm so sorry to everyone in this room," she said, briefly turning to face them.

McHugh spoke, as did defense attorney Erick Ward, of how she, too, had much to live for, as she was close to getting the Forest Service job of her dreams and marrying a man she loved.

“But none of that matters any more,” McHugh said.

“Those three will always be in my heart, as much as I might not wish that” to have happened, she said. “It was an accident. They didn’t deserve to die, at all. I’m sorry.”

Judge Hillman then spoke, before pronouncing sentence on her no-contest plea to the three first-degree manslaughter counts and a misdemeanor DUII charge.

“Decisions are made in mere moments of time,” the judge said twice at the start and end of her sentencing.

She said the horrendous dash-cam video of the crash, taken by a following driver and played on a large screen in court by District Attorney Steve Leriche, “speaks for itself.”

When that crash video was played in court, it prompted tears from so many in the packed courtroom.

"Oh my God! Oh my God!" the driver could be heard exclaiming over the sound of a radio, reacting in horror to what he'd just witnessed happen "right in front of me."

As Hillman imposed sentence, she repeated the words spoken repeatedly by a grandparent: “Three deaths. Nothing will ever make this right.” And she said no sentence she imposed could bring their three loved ones back.

State Police said McHugh was passing several vehicles in the fog the evening of Nov. 16, 2022 when her pickup truck collided with an oncoming car driven by Saralee Spino-McCormick, 29, of Warm Springs, who was fatally injured, along with her niece, Jessica Johnson, 15, and her 13-year-old nephew, Jesiah.

Leriche began the 2 1/2-hour plea and sentencing hearing by presenting much of the testimony and evidence that a jury might have been heard at trial, but started with photos of the victims: Spino-McCormick, who had spent two years as a wildland firefighter, battling blazes around the country, and her niece and nephew, two strong students and busy multi-sport athletes who she was taking home from basketball practice.

Leriche spoke of McHugh’s champagne at the hair salon, her use of anti-anxiety medication and also blood tests that showed alcohol (about half the legal limit) and THC, the active ingredient of marijuana. A paramedic testified that after the crash, McHugh appeared preoccupied with her hair extensions and “felt like this whole thing, we were an inconvenience to her.”

The medic claimed that when informed two people had died, at that point, she showed “indifference.” Leriche said she never asked about the others in the crash. Her defense attorney later said it was far more likely she was in shock, and pain.

 Members of the tight-knit Warm Springs community said McHugh had shown no signs of remorse and actually went out on a photo shoot that was posted on social media. Ward said it was the idea of McHugh’s well-meaning mother to get some fresh air after being “shut in for weeks at a time, marinating in the sorrow and the grief, trying to come to terms with what happened.”

Dustin Duffy, boss of a 20-member wildland firefighting crew, said Saralee “never gave less than 100 percent” and “set an example to follow," and like many asked she receive a maximum sentence.

A woman whose middle son was dating Jessica described how the loss hit him hard, physically and mentally, and his grades suffered. Another woman said she could not speak for the community, "but my family would choose not to forgive you. And my only hope is that your sentence will keep you incarcerated long enough that you will never have the opportunity to be a mother."

Three young people gone "because of you," a family member said. "We don't believe she cared then. Why should she care now? She didn't lose anybody -- we did! Our people -- you can see from the all the people here. We lost our children."

McHugh’s explanation in her defense lawyer’s filing days ago about extreme, debilitating gastric pain from gluten in a supposed gluten-free sandwich (she has celiac disease) and her frantic efforts to make it to a gas station bathroom angered those who saw it as just anther excuse.

Leriche noted that the two teens already “were without a mother and father,” but the Warm Springs community had come to their aid, “to give them the support to achieve in life. They took a bad hand in life, and they thrived.”

And he said the sentence needs to send a message that “on our highways, alcohol is not permitted, marijuana is not permitted” and when driving in bad weather, “think twice before driving in a manner that can hurt others.”

Defense attorney Ward said none of what he was about to explain was “intended to minimize or trivialize the scope of this tragedy,” and that his client “is here to take accountability.”

He pointed out that she had agreed last year to plead guilty, “but really, what it came down to is two words, and those are 'extreme indifference'” – the language in the state statute for first-degree manslaughter. “And my client has long struggled to vindicate herself from those words.”

Ward said McHugh had been working as a certified arborist for PG&E, traveling the west to assess wildfire danger from power lines, and was waiting for a final interview for a Forest Service job. She had no criminal history and “not a single traffic ticket” after two years spent driving across the West.

Ward said while McHugh's early words and behavior had turned many against her, it was only two days after the crash and her surgeries that she became fully aware of what happened, “and it has been nothing but grief and sorrow ever since.”

He sought a somewhat shorter sentence, of nearly 19 years, based on what he'd presented. The judge went with the prosecution's recommended 25-year prison term, plus conditions you might expect, including a lifetime driver's license revocation.

Hillman had some final words to the defendant, before she was led out of the courtroom to serve her sentence:

"Miss McHugh: Remember those three names."