Staunton,VI : County man convicted in wrong-way crash that killed one on June, Thursday 1st 2017

An Augusta County man who drove down the wrong way on Interstate 81 while drunk before slamming into an oncoming vehicle head-on last year was convicted Thursday of aggravated involuntary manslaughter and DUI.

Christopher S. Diehl, 32, faces up to 20 years in prison. He will remain at Middle River Regional Jail until his sentencing in September.

Prosecutors say Diehl, of Fishersville, entered I-81 in Staunton just before daybreak on June 26, 2016, and began driving his Toyota pick-up southbound in the northbound lanes.

According to witnesses and Virginia State Police officials, Diehl drove five miles the wrong way on I-81, weaving back and forth across the two-lane interstate as motorists scrambled to get out of the way. Eventually he slammed into a 2011 Volkswagen passenger car driven by Gina Hoang, 59, about six miles south of Staunton. Hoang, of Christiansburg, died at the scene.

Diehl’s blood alcohol level tested two hours after his arrest came back 0.15, nearly twice the legal limit, indicating that his intoxication level was even greater at the time of the crash.

Diehl’s defense attorney acknowledged his client was drunk and did not dispute the charge of involuntary manslaughter. However, he said it did not rise to the level of aggravated manslaughter because Diehl did not show “reckless disregard for human life,” at the time of the crash. The lawyer, Dave Heilberg, said Diehl’s attempts to avoid oncoming traffic showed he was not trying to hurt anyone. He would have gotten off the highway, the lawyer said, if he had seen the exit. Because he was going the wrong way, though, none of the road signs indicated an exit.

Diehl says the last thing he remembered before the crash was lying down on a friend’s couch in Stuarts Draft after drinking several beers at about 1 a.m. The next thing he knew, he said, he was coming to in his truck just after the wreck four hours later.

The remorse Diehl showed to state troopers after the crash and his memory lapse also show he did not have the reckless disregard for life needed under the “aggravated manslaughter” code.


Source :
County man convicted in wrong-way crash that killed one