Former truck driver John R. Stokes was sentenced Tuesday to 2 years in prison for his role in a 1999 Amtrak derailment near Bourbonnais that killed 11 people and injured 121 others.
Stokes, convicted of keeping false records and driving too long without rest, was taken into custody immediately and did not give a statement.
Kankakee County Judge Clark Erickson said that although there were a variety of factors contributing to the accident–including problems with the warning signals and gates at the crossing–Stokes bears some responsibility and should serve time.
There was no doubt, the judge said, that Stokes was driving his truck while tired and fatigue factored into his quick decision to try and cross the tracks.
The train, Amtrak’s City of New Orleans, was moving at the legal speed of 79 m.p.h. when it crashed into Stokes’ semitrailer truck.
Prosecutors have said Stokes, 64, of Manteno told investigators he stopped at home to rest before the accident, but gas receipts show he was, in fact, on the road.
“He lied throughout this investigation,” the judge said. “He falsified his logbook to hide the fact that he had driven in excess of 10 hours.”
Defense attorney Leonard Sacks of Kankakee said the sentence was too harsh.
“The connection between his driving and the collision was tenuous at best,” he said. “But somebody had to be indicted. Somebody had to pay. John’s it.”
Although Stokes, who also had his commercial driver’s license permanently revoked, was sentenced to 2 years, his actual time in prison may be far less.
Convicted of two felonies, he was sentenced “day for day,” meaning for every day served a day is shaved off his sentence, said Melissa Merz, spokeswoman for Atty. Gen. Lisa Madigan.
Department of Corrections spokeswoman Dede Short said inmates charged with nonviolent crimes are often eligible to shave time off their sentences for good behavior, which might add up to six months for Stokes.
Still, his childhood friend, Jack Lee, thought that even a single day behind bars was too much. Lee, who came to the courthouse to support his friend, had hoped Stokes would get probation. Stokes faced a maximum sentence of three years.
“Why should he have to take all of the penalty?” Lee said, adding that he worried about his friend’s health. Stokes is said to suffer from diabetes and liver problems.
“I’m afraid they’re going to give him the bare minimum of medical attention,” Lee said.
Though the judge acknowledged that Stokes suffered from physical and financial problems, he said that “pales in comparison to what happened to the people on the train.”
Marc Magliari, a spokesman for Amtrak, praised the sentence, saying it was appropriate considering the charges.
“The judge is doing what Mr. Stokes wouldn’t do: hold him accountable,” he said.
Stokes declined to address the court during sentencing.
Amtrak faces numerous lawsuits stemming from the accident, though Magliari declined to say how many.
Although the accident generated much media coverage and sparked federal investigations, the criminal case ended quietly, with just a small number of victims’ relatives and survivors on hand Tuesday.
Robert Munson, whose mother, Marie, died in the crash and was buried in a closed casket because of head injuries, said he was satisfied with the sentence. After the hearing, he thanked prosecutors and investigators.
“I’m happy that he’s doing time, but he wasn’t the sole reason for the accident,” Munson said. “It’s time for the railroads to make the crossings safer for the public.”
Michelle Piette, who traveled to the courthouse from Iowa City, Iowa, was a passenger in a sleeper car, the part of the train where all of the deaths occurred that night. She climbed out a window after the car had flipped on its side.
She said the sentence fit the laws Stokes violated, but she hoped it would not distract from the larger issue of railroad safety.
“The public is going to look at it as if he was at fault for the accident, when in fact he wasn’t,” she said. “He just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time.”
