Whitefish youth gets probation

The Daily Inter Lake

A 16-year-old Whitefish boy convicted of negligent homicide in the July 2007 traffic death of a Columbia Falls woman (and charged with two later crimes) was placed on probation Friday until he turns 25.

Flathead District Judge Ted Lympus sentenced Phillip John Wisnewski as a juvenile, but handed down a parallel sentence that will apply if Wisnewski violates the conditions of his probation after he turns 18 and becomes an adult.

Under the adult offender disposition, Wisnewski was sentenced to 10 years in the Department of Corrections, with all of the time suspended except 30 days in county jail. The entire amount of time will be stayed providing Wisnewski stays out of trouble while on probation.

As part of his sentence as a juvenile, Wisnewski will participate in victim-offender conferences and he and his parents must complete a program for youths in need of intervention.

Wisnewski was not a licensed driver and was 15 years old when he and a group of friends were headed home from a rodeo at the Blue Moon a year ago.

He missed a turn, then attempted to make a U-turn on U.S. 2 near Glacier Park International Airport, striking a vehicle in which Sara June Carter, 22, was a passenger. The group of teenagers then fled the scene of the accident.

Carter died about an hour after the crash and two other people were injured.

"This has been a terrible tragedy with long-lasting effects on both parties," Lympus said during the sentencing.

The Carter family was unable to attend the sentencing hearing due to court schedule changes, but a letter from Carter's sister, Lisa Carter, was read into the record. In the letter, Lisa Carter asked the court to hold Wisnewski accountable for her sister's death.

Sentencing for the negligent homicide charge was postponed in January after Wisnewski was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, a misdemeanor, and assault with a weapon, a felony, both violations of the terms of his release.

The incident occurred in a Whitefish school bus Dec. 18, 2007, when Wisnewski said he took a hand-crafted machete away from another student who was threatening to carve up the bus seats.

"I didn't want to get into trouble, so I took it [the machete] away and put it in the pocket of my Carhartt jacket," he told the court Friday.

Wisnewski said another student threw a half-empty Coke bottle at him, hitting him in the head, and Wisnewski retaliated by threatening to "kick his butt" if didn't stop horsing around.

The charges for the bus altercations were reduced to disorderly conduct and carrying a concealed weapon, both misdemeanors. Wisnewski was sentenced for those offenses Friday as part of the juvenile portion of his sentencing.