Driver sentenced to prison for fatal crash in 2006

BAYBORO -- John Basil Plumlee was sentenced to 10½ to 13 years in prison after he pleaded guilty Tuesday to second-degree murder in a fatal auto crash.

Darlene Ewell, mother of Staci R. Jenkins, who was killed in the crash, cried during the sentencing in Pamlico County Superior Court.

Jenkins, who was 18 years old, was riding in the back seat of Plumlee's 2005 compact car when he lost control on N.C. 306 in Arapahoe around 4 a.m. Aug. 2, 2006.

Plumlee hit a ditch and two pine trees, and Jenkins was thrown 180 feet. Her body hit a steel shed. The car was split in half.

Accident reconstructionists with the State Highway Patrol estimated that Plumlee was driving 139 miles an  hour in a 55-mph zone. He had a blood-alcohol level of .11 percent.

Plumlee's front-seat passenger, Brittany Allen, was 17 years old when the crash happened.

Neither of the girls had alcohol in their system.

District Attorney Scott Thomas said Allen told investigators that she and Jenkins begged Plumlee to slow down. The girls pleaded with Plumlee to stop the car and let them get out, but he didn't.

Plumlee was 19 years old when the wreck occurred. He suffered brain damage in  the wreck and is taking nine prescription medications, including strong pain medicine and growth hormones.

Plumlee has gained weight and grown  a beard since the wreck.

He also pleaded guilty to assault with a deadly weapon inflicting serious injury. That charge was in connection with the injuries to her ribs and spine that Allen suffered in the wreck.

He was sentenced on that charge to five years' probation. He was  ordered to pay nearly $5,000 in restitution, and not operate a motor vehicle on state roads for five years.

That sentence goes into effect after Plumlee serves the prison sentence.

Thomas said the second-degree murder charge was filed because of high speed and Plumlee's impaired driving.

Ewell said after the sentencing that she wished Plumlee had stopped the car as the girls asked. "I am pleased with the plea," she said.

As Plumlee was being taken to the Pamlico County jail for transfer to Central Prison in Raleigh he said, "I am so very sorry. I wish it never happened. I wish I could trade places with Staci."