Montana: Marcus Sickles sent to slammer for five years for killing Derek Nelson in booze cruise

From Independent Record
MISSOULA — During an emotional hearing that featured repeated pleas for tougher DUI laws, a Missoula man who drove drunk and rolled his truck, killing his best friend, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.

“For too many years now in the state of Montana, DUI and vehicular homicide have had little consequences … and behavior has not changed,” Barbara Nelson tearfully told Missoula County District Court Judge John Larson. “I truly believe it is time for the judicial system to change the plea bargain away from treatment and toward incarceration.”

Nelson is the grandmother of Derek Nelson, 22, of Missoula, who died when a black Chevy truck driven by Marcus Sickles failed to negotiate a curve on Interstate 90 near Frenchtown last July. A blood test put Sickles’ blood alcohol content at 0.287 percent, more than three times the legal driving limit, according to court documents. ….MORE