Posted: Sunday, July 16, 2006 12:00 am
Driver in fatal collision got two-year prison term, will go free after 8 months
By KYLE ODEGARD
Corvallis Gazette-Times
Amy Stack is set to be released from the state's prison system on Aug. 1, after serving eight months of a two-year sentence following a car crash that killed a local teen.
The early release comes from her participation in an alternative incarceration program that has long days of classes and community service.
Stack, 29, is serving time at the Shutter Creek Correctional Institution near Coos Bay, and will placed in "transitional leave" for 90 days n she'll be free, but still officially an inmate, with regular meetings with a parole officer.
If she gets into trouble, she could return to prison to serve the remainder of her sentence.
"She is going to do the transitional leave in Oregon," said Tim Causey, superintendent of Shutter Creek.
Stack could petition to spend those 90 days in a county other than Benton County, where she was sentenced, however. In most cases, those requests are granted, Causey said.
After that, Stack could apply to serve her post-prison supervision in Oklahoma, where here family is from.
Stack declined comment for this article.
On Aug. 10, 2004, Stack's car crashed into the back of a bicycle ridden by 18-year-old Robin Jensen on Lewisburg Road.
Jensen died later at the hospital.
"The Jensen family feels that the length of time Amy Stack spent in prison was a grave injustice and insult to Robin's life," wrote her mother, Debbie Jensen, in an e-mail.
"When an offender is sentenced to two years, then serves only eight months, there is something drastically wrong with our criminal justice system," she added.
During sentencing in November, the judge said there was no direct evidence Stack was at fault in Jensen's death, though there was a strong desire to blame her for it within the community. Stack was sentenced to two years in custody for failing to perform the duties of a driver.
After the crash, which happened at dusk, Stack drove off and later testified she thought she hit a deer. She parked her car in her Corvallis garage and ordered a pizza.
She called police three days later - after her parents arrived from Oklahoma and an attorney was hired - to let them know her car was involved in the fatal hit-and-run crash.
The same day Stack was sentenced, Jensen's family filed a $3 million wrongful death lawsuit against Stack.
The case was dismissed in March after an out-of-court settlement was reached. Debbie Jensen declined comment about the lawsuit.
Kyle Odegard covers Philomath and rural Benton County. He can be contacted at kyle.odegard@lee.net or 758-9523.