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Hit-and-run driver gets 18 months in student’s death
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Kevin Ryan, 19, of Columbia, died last November after a drunken driver struck him as he walked back to his dorm at Towson University. - Courtesy photo
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - A Parkville man pleaded guilty Thursday in a hit-and-run crash that killed a Towson University student.
Baltimore County Circuit Judge Robert Dugan sentenced Matthew Miller, 25, to 18 months in prison after he admitted his guilt in a Nov. 12 vehicular homicide that killed Kevin Ryan, 19, of Columbia, a freshman.
“Nobody went out to commit a crime,” said David Irwin, Miller’s attorney. “It was just a terrible tragedy. He understood he was going to jail because of a lot of facts, including that he didn’t own up to it right away. We understand the trauma the Ryan family went through.”
Miller initially told police his vehicle didn’t strike Ryan.
With shards of glass on his shirt and pants, Miller told police three black men carjacked his vehicle before it struck and killed Ryan as he walked back to his dorm after playing cards with friends.
Four hours after the crash, Miller’s blood-alcohol content was .13, court records show. The legal driving limit is .08.
His family told The Examiner in a previous interview that every day is a struggle since the Atholton High grad’s death.
“There’s not an hour that goes by that you’re not reminded of this,” said Ryan’s uncle, Jamie Ryan, of Clarksville.
lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com
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Examiner Reader said:
Kevin died in October, not November. Miller was out on the street - after getting wasted. He's in jail now...hopefully never to kill someone else. The jerk.
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Examiner Reader said:
The judge is soft on criminals. He should have sentenced this guy to 4 years minimum, with about 500 hours community service. Maryland is too soft as a state. Crimes like this will continue without tougher sentencing.
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Examiner Reader said:
Lol 3 black men
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Examiner Reader said:
Dugan you are worthless!!! Do you know what deterrence is? Time to retire your (no)honor.
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Examiner Reader said:
18 months for taking a life, running away, then lying about it? Not to mention saying it was 3 black guys!! What a coward! He got off easy and the judge is horrible.
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Examiner Reader said:
With the plea deal the defendant could have received up to four years, however Judge Dugan only gave him 18 months. I agree that the sentence is ridiculous, but blame the Judge not the States Attorney.
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Examiner Reader said:
You've GOT to be kidding me! That goon was drunk and pulled a hit and run? Should be in State prison for ten years minimum. What a crock! Prosecutor should be sacked.
1 agree | 1 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Looks like life is on sale this year at the Baltimore County State's Attorney's Office. This is a sickening plea and the prosecutor should be fired.
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The Undertaker said:
Judging from my observations, I'm sure that plea that Mr. Irwin worked out was something like - plead guilty to the top count and the prosecutor gets to ask for the max. The defendant could have hired the Public Defender and gotten the same plea deal for free.
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Oracle said:
I can't wait to hear the outcome of the plea bargain Mr. Miller will get. I'm betting on probation and community service.
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EXAMNER READER said:
well i guess san francisco is the way for Bush's rejects...if the president fired him then why should san francisco hire this creep......i guess he is in cahoots with the mayor for his politcal bid for governer....that is when california will go to hell in a hand basket...an infidel cheating man as governor and with his best friends wife. newsom already made san francisco an embaraasment by his cheating ways. does he cheat the city the same way...my guess is yes....cheaters cheat on most everything.....ADULTERER
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EXAMNER READER said:
if they got rid of fong...who does not know what the heck shes doing and put someone in there with a brain..other than some woman who has never made an arrest in her life. Fong is too lenient with criminals and is a lousy chief of police. I was at Dolores Park a few weeks ago...and was observing drug dealers, dealing drugs to high school kids with a policeman sitting in his car drinking coffee...now if I saw this, then why didnt the police? get rid of that FONG WOMAN and put a man back in as chief of police.
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Examiner Reader said:
+1 on the DA idea. She is a complete travesty. If there is one office in SF that needs to have a no-nonsense person it is the DA's office. That means no leftists who sympathize with hoodlums but instead a conservative male who shrugs off allegations of racism and sends them to prison.
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Examiner Reader said:
How about bringing the SFPD up to full strength, arm and train them with the latest crime fighting technologies and get a DA who is on their side, not the criminals.
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Examiner Reader said:
And the Chief of Police and her staff are paid to do what??? This is government bureaucracy at its worst! No one is ever held accountable for their failures. If the police dept isn't doing the job, fire the Chief and bring in somebody who will fight crime. You don't hire another bureaucrat to further stymie the decision making process. Crime is down in LA, Chicago, and New York. It's down in those locals because of the combination of strong civic leadership and crime fighting police departments. Nothing personal Mr. Ryan, but the Office of Criminal Justice is an absolute waste of taxpayer dollars. It's Newsom's way of saying we're doing "something" to combat violent crime, and nothing more...
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Examiner Reader said:
what happen to the freeze on hiring neewsome hasn't a clu ealone withteh SF G voters
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speedstan said:
Kevin Ryan was fired by the same Bush adminstration that hired him due to allegations by his subordinates that he was too autocratic, dogmatic, inflexible, and could never admit when he made a mistake. San Francisco is full of political leaders who are equally autocratic, dogmatic, inflexible, and inapable of admitting that their own policies have failed. How is this supposed to work.
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