A New Jersey man with a felony drug charge conviction in the New Jersey courts was sentenced to three years in the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in Mendocino County Court Wednesday.
According to information made public via social media by the Mendocino County District Attorney’s office, Kevin Richard Fenty, 27, is criminally responsible for a two-vehicle collision near Cloverdale on May 13, 2017. Fenty had been convicted by plea of driving a car under the influence of hydrocodone causing bodily injury, possession of more than an ounce of marijuana, and driving without a driver’s license.
The Mendocino County District Attorney’s Office noted that drivers began calling 911 on the morning of May 13 to report Fenty’s erratic driving as he was heading north on Highway 101. Residents were said to have stopped to provide first aid and comfort at the crash scene.
The DA’s Office also stated more than a month after his May arrest for the crash in Mendocino County, Fenty was arrested driving a car in New Jersey and subsequently convicted of a felony drug charge involving prescription pills.
Even though the defense counsel for Fenty argued for leniency at the sentencing in Superior Court in Ukiah, citing among other factors Fenty’s prescription pill addiction and his need for court-enforced help, District Attorney David Eyster opposed the requests for a sentence of probation, no additional jail time and obligatory residential treatment.
The D.A’s posting states Eyster argued for the maximum prison sentence allowed by law (three years), asserting that Fenty continues to pose too great a threat to the motoring public as evidenced by the severity of the crash on Highway 101 and the long-term physical and psychological injuries suffered by the victim.
With a separate felony drug matter still pending in New Jersey, Eyster argued that Fenty was welcome to apply for and pursue a rehabilitation program in New Jersey once his California state prison sentence was completed and he is released to parole supervision.
