MISSOULA, Mont. - A 29-year-old Turah man who pleaded guilty to driving drunk and running into a group of girls walking along the highway, killing two of them, was sentenced Friday to just under 15 years in prison.
David J. DelSignore was sentenced by District Judge John Larson, who suspended 15 years and five months of a 30-year sentence. The Missoulian reported that DelSignore could be eligible for parole in as little as four years, after which he will be required to talk to groups of students and others about the dangers of driving drunk.
Prosecutors said DelSignore was drunk and talking on his cell phone when his pickup truck went off Highway 200 between Missoula and East Missoula on Dec. 26. The crash killed 15-year-old Taylor Cearley and 14-year-old Ashlee Patenaude, freshmen at Hellgate High.
DelSignore pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide while under the influence. He also pleaded guilty to two negligent vehicular assault charges for injuries suffered by two other teens, Teal Packard and Hailey Rumpel.
"I pray every night that I might find it in my heart to forgive you, but right now, that's God's job. Because I can't, and I won't," Jenipher Patenaude, Ashlee's mother, told DelSignore before he was sentenced.
A tearful DelSignore, who faced each person as one after another delivered tearful memories of the girls and hurled anger his way, said before he was sentenced he would not beg for mercy or leniency.
"I can't bring your girls back," he said. "I can't apologize enough to anyone in here for what I've done. I deserve to be punished."
