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Newport man sentenced for fatal 2022 accident

Photo by Michelle Dillon Defendant Richard W. Evans takes a moment to calm himself after being overcome with emotion while making a statement at his sentencing hearing in a Washington County Court of Common Pleas courtroom Friday. Evans was sentenced on one first-degree felony count of aggravated vehicular homicide and one first-degree misdemeanor count of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse or a combination of them in relation to an accident in December 2022 that caused the death of Henry Lee Scott II.

A sentencing hearing was held Friday for a Newport man who drove under the influence with a suspended or canceled license in 2022 and caused an accident that killed a New Martinsville man.

Richard W. Evans, 61, was sentenced to four to six years during a sentencing hearing Friday morning in Washington County Common Pleas Court Judge Mark Kerenyi’s courtroom for a December 2022 accident in which Evans killed Henry Lee Scoot II, 70, of New Martinsville.

Evans was indicted in July 2023 on one first-degree felony count of aggravated vehicular homicide, one second-degree felony count of aggravated vehicular homicide; one first-degree misdemeanor count of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol; a drug of abuse or a combination of them; one first-degree misdemeanor count of driving under the influence of a listed controlled substance; and one unclassified misdemeanor count of driving under financial responsibility law suspension or cancellation.

The indictments were a result of a Dec. 23, 2022, accident where Evans’ car veered left of center on State Route 7 and struck Scott’s car. Scott was pronounced dead on scene, and the Ohio State Highway Patrol, who responded to the accident, suspected drugs and alcohol were a factor in the crash.

Evans was under the influence of cocaine during the accident, according to his indictment, and had a concentration of cocaine metabolite in his urine or blood at the time of the accident.

Evans originally pleaded not guilty to all the charges, but in April entered a written plea of guilty to the first-degree felony count of aggravated vehicular homicide and the first-degree misdemeanor count of operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol, a drug of abuse or a combination of them.

The other charges against Evans were dismissed, and according to the plea, Scott and the prosecutor reached an agreed disposition.

The penalty for the aggravated vehicular homicide charge is 11 to 16.5 years in prison and lifetime license suspension, according to the plea, and the agreed disposition between Evans and the prosecutor is for him to serve a four- to six-year sentence for the aggravated vehicular homicide and three days in jail for the driving under the influence related charge, with both sentences to run concurrently.

Evans will also be under two to five years of post-release supervision once his sentence is served, according to the please.

Scott’s daughters, Julianna Morris and Bethany Scott (married name unknown), spoke at the hearing.

Morris said she is Scott’s eldest daughter and that he “was my best friend, my everything.”

She said Scott was her only parent after she and her sister lost their mother to cancer in 2007 and he spent time with them, taking them to The Ohio State University games and other activities.

Scott graduated from Frontier High School and Marietta College and was involved in his community as a philanthropist, business owner and member of organizations like the Marietta Shrine Club, Morris said.

“He loved his family more than anything” she said and “he was known up and down the valley as a great man and I was lucky to call him my dad,” she said.

She described how the accident changed her and her sister’s lives, with both of them having to quit their jobs to help run their dad’s businesses after his death and causing her to wonder what she could have done differently to prevent her father getting hit in the accident.

“I’m so depressed, I can barely get out of bed in the morning,” Morris said.

She also expressed her feelings about Evan’s sentence saying “Four to six years is a small price to pay for snuffing out the life of a wonderful human being.”

Morris told Evans she hopes he uses his time in prison seeking help for his substance abuse.

Throughout the time she talked, Morris fought back tears, at times not winning the fight.

Bethany Scott spoke next, stating she is Scott’s youngest daughter and echoing what her sister said about him as a father and a community member.

She shared how she felt planning her wedding after her father died.

“I had to have my wedding without his input.” she said.

All she wanted was to see his face when she walked down the aisle, Scott said, and her future children won’t have the chance to know their grandfather.

“Richard, you had a choice to get behind that wheel that day,” Scott said.

She told Evans she hoped he takes a chance to grow as a person from this situation and the grief and loss of their father’s death will always be felt.

“You didn’t break us, the Scott girls are strong,” she said.

She too struggled with tears during the time she talked.

A friend of Scott’s, whose name was not available as of press time, also shared her thoughts and feelings on his death.

Evans’ attorney, Shawna Landaker, spoke during the hearing, stating that he is remorseful and wants’ to put everything behind him and move forward. Then Evans took the opportunity to speak during the hearing.

“To the family … I’m not a bad person .. I spend a lot of time with my family,” Evans said.

Evans went to Frontier High School too, he said, and he did not know Scott but knew people who knew him and he thinks he and Scott, if they had known each other, would have been cordial to each other, if not friends, he said.

Evans became overcome with emotion while speaking at the hearing, and took a moment to try to compose himself, though afterwards his eyes were still visibly full of tears and his voice was full of emotion.

“I’m very sorry and hope that someday you could forgive me,” he said to Scott’s daughters.

Kerenyi remanded Evans to the Sheriff at the end of the hearing so he could be transported to the facility where he will serve his sentence.

Michelle Dillon can be reached at mdillon@newsandsentinel.com

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