DRUGGED DRIVER GETS SIX YEARS

Fatal crash: Man had a 0.30 percent blood-alcohol level when his truck hit
a car; he pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter.

Out of control from too much alcohol and cocaine, Ricardo Townsend blew
through two red traffic lights moments before his speeding pickup truck
slammed into a compact car, killing its driver early one morning last
April.

The victim, Allison Kimko Sanwo, 24, a substitute schoolteacher, died at
the scene, a short distance from the intersection of Monterey Road and
Branham Lane in South San Jose. The force of the crash had caused the two
vehicles to slide about 125 feet down the road before coming to rest.

A 1995 graduate of the University of California-Davis, Sanwo had been
looking forward to a full-time teaching position in the fall.

On Friday -- shortly before Santa Clara County Superior Court Judge James
H. Chang sentenced him to six years in prison -- Townsend seemed to recoil
from the memory of the crash as members of his family and Sanwo's looked on
during his sentencing hearing.

Townsend, a grocery clerk, pleaded guilty last month to vehicular
manslaughter, a charge that could have resulted in a 10-year term. Reading
Friday from a letter he composed himself, Townsend, 28, told the Sanwo
family:

``There is nothing I can say to you that could make a difference in your
sorrow, but I have to try. One year ago, I drove into a terrible accident
which tragically ended one life and changed the lives of many others,'' he
said.

``You have suffered the terrible loss of a dearly loved daughter and sister
for which I am eternally remorseful.''

Concurring with a probation report recommendation, Chang refused Townsend
probation and local jail time. Instead he ordered him to serve six years in
prison in addition to three years on parole. Deputy District Attorney Ted
Kajani had urged the maximum penalty -- citing what he called aggravating
circumstances, including Townsend's blood-alcohol level of 0.30 percent.

The prosecutor said that because Townsend basically had no criminal record,
Chang's decision was not surprising.

``I just hope the victim's family can put this behind them and move on,''
said Kajani.

Outside the courtroom, Sanwo's mother, Sharon Sanwo, a legal secretary in
the state Attorney General's Office in Fresno, said she was hoping for
stiffer punishment for Townsend.

``To me, a drunk driver who kills, it's murder,'' Sanwo said.

Among the spectators in Chang's courtroom was Jackie Masso, president of
the Bay Area Chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving in San Jose. After
the hearing, Masso said that when Townsend elected to drink and drive his
decision became a ``violent crime of choice'' because he knew there was a
chance he could hurt himself or someone else.

``Allison was not an accident victim, but a victim of a violent crime -- a
murder victim. We (MADD members) believe that firmly,'' Masso said.

Defense attorney Phillip Pennypacker, who represented Townsend, wasn't
satisfied with the sentence.

He noted that his client had participated in a serious program of
rehabilitation the past year, including numerous engagements before youth
and other groups in which he counseled against the dangers of driving under
the influence of alcohol and other drugs.

``I was disappointed Ricardo could not start giving back to the
community,'' said Pennypacker. ``I thought he was a good candidate for
probation.''