12/04/2006

Associated Press

An illegal immigrant with a history of drug arrests has been sentenced to five years and a month behind bars for the traffic death of a popular community college educator.

vehicular homicide in his second trial.

The prison term for Marcos Ramos Medina, 35, a twice-deported Mexican national who most recently lived in Portland, Ore., was the maximum under state guidelines for vehicular homicide. His criminal record in Portland included possession of cocaine and the sale of heroin for profit, and he also had a federal firearms conviction.

Medina was convicted last month of being high on methamphetamine when his car crossed the center line on U.S. Highway 95 near Satus Pass on Aug. 4, 2005, and collided nearly head-on with a 2000 Lexus driven by Peggy Keller, 53, a radiology expert and dean of distance education and technical services at Yakima Valley Community College.

Defense lawyer Jeff West said the verdict would be appealed. During the trial he argued that Medina acted with recklessness or negligence, which would be treated less severely, rather than driving while impaired, which is grounds for a vehicular homicide conviction.

Speaking through an interpreter Friday, Medina asked for forgiveness from those in Yakima County Superior Court, including Keller's husband Gordon.

"It would be better if I were the one who left because I am not so important. Unfortunately, nothing happened to me," he said.

"I'm glad he got 61 months," Gordon Keller said. "I don't feel it was nearly enough. We will just have to live with that."

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Information from: Yakima Herald-Republic, http://www.yakima-herald.com