There has not been a sentence handed down yet for a Basalt woman charged with killing another driver. The sentencing hearing for the case is unusually long. Twenty-one year-old Indiana student Meleyna Kistner was on a road trip last August when she died on Highway 133. She and her boyfriend were on a sharp curve south of Carbondale, when they were struck by Christine Tinner, of Basalt. Tinner has pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors, both for careless driving.
During an unusual sentencing hearing yesterday, twenty-one people made statements about the deceased. They were her friends and family, and they described her as a vibrant, engaging woman, and at times there was not a dry eye in the courtroom, including from Judge Erin Fernandez-Ely. Those speaking also criticized how the case has been handled, flummoxed by the maximum jail sentence of one year. They want the state law changed to allow for more jail time in cases such as this. Judge Ely is also considering restitution, and lots of probation.
Daniel Thul was the boyfriend of the woman who died, and was also in the car at the time of the accident. “ I just hope that [the hearing] was beneficial so that other people... that it doesn’t happen to them,” he said Thursday evening. Thul was injured in the accident and almost lost his ankle. He believes the defendant, Tinner, has already suffered enough and wishes her no ill will.
Tinner’s attorney, Basalt-based Dan Shipp, has asked that the remaining statements by friends and family be pared down. “We’re seeing the people that are becoming more-- I’m trying to find a word that is nice to use,” said Shipp in the courtroom afterwards. “They’re much more firm in their uncaring attitude about Christine, and why should they care about someone that crossed the center line and killed their daughter?”
Shipp has a handful of witnesses expected to speak before the judge today, to explain more about what happened the day of the accident. Sentencing hearings rarely go longer than one day. Judge Ely says she hopes to finish up by the end of today.
