TEEN DRUG DEATH: 'NO EXCUSE'

Maximum Penalty For Abandoning Victim

WEST JORDAN - While most other mothers were telling their daughters,
"Just say no," Macall Petersen and her mom were using drugs together,
her attorney said at a sentencing hearing Tuesday. And while another
teen might have called 911 to save a best friend from overdosing,
Macall Petersen let Amelia Sorich die last summer and then dumped the
body in the hills above Bountiful. Third District Judge Royal Hansen
said Petersen's troubled upbringing was "no excuse" for injecting
Sorich with a fatal mixture of heroin and cocaine and then doing
nothing when she passed out. "You abandoned your friend and failed to
assist her in the hour of her greatest need. Friends don't do what
you did to Amelia Sorich," Hansen said, handing down the maximum
possible sentence of zero to six years in prison. Hansen recommended
the 18-year-old Draper teen complete a prison drug treatment program,
obtain her high school diploma and have no contact with her mother.
"That has not been a good thing in your life," the judge said. Hansen
went well beyond the recommendations of the defense and prosecution,
which asked for a year in jail, probation and drug treatment. The
parents of the victim said they hope the stiff sentence will allow
them to move on. "It feels good to know [Petersen] will have to think
about this for a long time," Kathryn Sorich told news reporters.
Sorich had told the judge her 18-year-old daughter was bright,
talented and always ready to help a friend in need. She said Amelia
took a special interest in Petersen, even inviting the girl to stay
with them after she absconded from a drug treatment program. "But the
one time [Amelia] needed someone to take action on her behalf, where
were you?" Sorich asked, glaring at Petersen. "What were you
thinking?" Sorich said her only daughter's death has left her bereft
and contemplating suicide. "I have nothing.

We have nothing," Sorich said. "Pictures, memories, Macall. That's
all we have left." Petersen, 18, pleaded guilty last month to
negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor, and desecration of a dead
human body, a third-degree felony. At that time, defense attorney
Rudy Bautista said Petersen had twice injected Sorich with a
so-called speedball, but he insisted Sorich had asked for the drugs.
Bautista said that Petersen has "firsthand knowledge" of the drug
mixture because her mother, "a lifelong drug addict," used them.
"[Petersen] did drugs with her mother, which is appalling," he told
the court. He said Petersen is now trying to change her life.
AdvertisementShe has participated in a documentary about drug use in
Utah and is willing to speak to high school students about "the
horrors of drug use," he said. Reading from a prepared statement,
Petersen said, "I want to give my deepest apology to Amelia's
family." She said she cherished her memories of Amelia Sorich. "No
one will ever be able to appreciate the friendship we had," Petersen
said. After Sorich passed out and died at Petersen's Draper home the
night of June 25, Petersen and her boyfriend, Jasen Calacino, 20,
loaded the body into the victim's car and dumped it above Bountiful,
where it was discovered two days later by a passer-by. The pair
abandoned Sorich's car near a Salt Lake City business and threw her
cell phone and purse into a trash bin. Prosecutor Sean Torriente said
Petersen's motives were "selfish." He said Petersen believed
reporting the overdose would violate her juvenile court probation,
which, unbeknownst to her, had been terminated the day before. When
Kathryn Sorich called Petersen the next day, Petersen claimed she had
not seen Amelia. She later claimed Amelia had gone to a rave party.
The details of Amelia Sorich's death were revealed only after
Calacino turned himself into police.

Calacino claims he argued with Petersen in favor of calling 911 and
had attempted CPR on Sorich. The negligent homicide charge against
Calacino has been dismissed, but he remains charged with desecration
of a dead human body. Calacino is expected to resolve his case with a
plea deal next month. Michael Sorich said the family had a
closed-casket funeral because his daughter had been been dragged over
rocks and bushes by Petersen and Calacino. "Her body was scratched,
bruised and bloated," he told the judge. "That's what Macall did to
me and my family." The father said he hopes Petersen's fate will send
a message to others whose friends overdose on drugs. "If something
like this happens, call 911."