Pubdate: Fri, 23 Jun 2017
Source: Buffalo News (NY)
Copyright: 2017 The Buffalo News
Contact: http://drugsense.org/url/GXIzebQL
Website: http://www.buffalonews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/61
Author: Thomas J. Prohaska

WILSON MAN ADMITS SMOKING POT BEFORE FATAL PORTER COLLISION

A Wilson man said Friday that he was under the influence of marijuana
when he caused a fatal crash last summer in Porter.

Michael A. Buchalski II, 22, of Randall Road, pleaded guilty to
criminally negligent homicide and driving while impaired by drugs, in
exchange for a two-year sentence - one year on each count - in the
Niagara County Jail.

State Supreme Court Justice Richard C. Kloch Sr. scheduled sentencing
for Aug. 11. The judge also revoked Buchalski's bail and sent him to
jail immediately to begin serving his time for causing the death of
Michael G. Willimott Jr., 38, of Niagara Falls.

Niagara County Assistant District Attorney Theodore A. Brenner said he
cleared the plea bargain with Willimott's family.

"They're consenting to this disposition as a means getting some
closure and putting this matter behind them," Brenner said.

Family members were in the courtroom but declined to be
interviewed.

Buchalski was scheduled to go to trial Monday, when he would have
faced a second-degree manslaughter charge that carries a 15-year
maximum sentence.

Defense attorney James J. Faso Jr. said he had a chance at winning an
acquittal.

"The (marijuana) levels were extremely low in his system," Faso said.
"There was a chance he might walk away completely."

But Buchalski had admitted to a Niagara County sheriff's deputy that
he had smoked pot about two hours before the July 22 crash, an
admission Faso called "devastating."

Buchalski voluntarily gave a blood sample after being taken to Erie
County Medical Center by Mercy Flight after the crash.

In a June 13 evidentiary hearing, Deputy Andrew D. Nemi testified that
he talked to Buchalski at the scene of the wreck at Dickersonville and
Youngstown-Wilson roads.

Nemi said Willimott's vehicle was westbound on Youngstown-Wilson Road
and faced no traffic control device at the intersection. Buchalski's
vehicle was northbound on Dickersonville Road and was approaching a
stop sign.

"He approached the stop sign, attempted to stop and slid through,"
Nemi testified.

Accident reconstruction showed Buchalski was moving at about 45 mph
when his vehicle T-boned Willimott's. The victim's passengers were his
two children, ages 4 and 8.

Friday in court, Buchalski, wearing a dark gray suit, answered all of
Kloch's yes-or-no questions in a firm, calm voice, and didn't react
when Kloch ordered him to jail.

"I didn't expect that at all," Faso said later. "That's what the judge
decided to do, so we'll abide by it."

Kloch said there had been research on the legality of the two-year
sentence. Buchalski pleaded guilty to a felony and a misdemeanor, and
normally when the two types of crimes occur in the same case, the
sentences are supposed to be served simultaneously.

Brenner said it was "an iffy proposition," but Buchalski waived his
right to appeal the sentence as part of the plea deal.
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