Spencer man receives 30-year sentence

Photo by Randy M. Cauthron James Prather, 57, Spencer, is escorted out of the Clay County Courthouse after being sentenced Thursday. He pleaded guilty to charges of vehicular homicide and causing serious injury by vehicle while intoxicated. [Click to enlarge]

Prather was convicted after entering a guilty plea of two counts -- vehicular homicide and serious injury by vehicle for causing a fatal motorcycle crash seven months ago along U.S. Highway 18 east of Spencer.

His SUV struck the motorcycle operated by 30-year-old Brian Beck of Spencer from behind on the evening of Aug. 4. Beck died two days later from injuries sustained in the crash. Beck's passenger, Krystal Plagman of Marathon also was injured.

Whittenburg had the option of allowing Prather to serve his sentence on both counts at the same time. She chose to have him complete the up to 25-year sentence on the Class B felony charge of vehicular homicide before he begins serving a possible five-year sentence on the Class D felony charge of causing serious injury by vehicle.

He has been ordered to pay $150,000 in restitution to the estate of Brian Beck in addition to fines and court costs.

Brian's wife, Amy Beck, was the first witness to testify at the sentencing hearing and asked Whittenburg to give Prather the maximum sentence. She also told Prather she could forgive someone for unintentionally causing a fatal crash, but couldn't forgive someone who runs and hides instead of stopping to help. A third charge, leaving the scene of a fatal accident, was dismissed as part of Prather's plea agreement. Police found him at his home in the Country Villa trailer park soon after the crash.

Brian's mother, Nancy Beck noted that neighbors saw Prather fall several times and said he checked the front of his SUV before going inside on the night of the accident. Clay County Attorney Michael Houchins told Whittenburg that Prather has a blood-alcohol reading of .251. The legal limit is .08 in Iowa.

"I have to start my life over, from scratch, without Brian," Amy Beck told the court.

Amy Beck said Prather took away her world, her family and everything she holds dear. Brian's best friend Travis Stouffer had to get married without a best man, she said. She also worried about running into Prather at the grocery store and noted that she could only buy food for one person instead of three -- counting Brian and his 11-year-old son, Max.

Max is Brian Beck's son from a previous relationship with Sara Minck. She told Prather that Max had to see his father and role model hooked up to a ventilator and in a casket.

"Brian and I were very good friends and a team when it came to Max," Minck told the court.

She also saw the joy come out of Max's face when he realized he'd never see his father again. Minck read a statement from Max, saying "Mr. Prather, I am mad that you took my dad away from me."

Prather declined an opportunity to address the court or the family.

"Every defendant has the right of allocution, in which they can make a statement to the court," Houchins said. "He decided not to. I don't know why he made that decision."

Prather's attorney Eldon Winkel of Algona told Whittenburg that Prather was truthful with law enforcement and simply may not have been aware of the consequences when the crash occurred.

Prather had a 10-year working relationship with Jack Campbell, who described his former employee as a hard worker and the salt of the earth.

"Yeah, he drank," Campbell acknowledged, but he wasn't aware of a severe drinking problem.

Campbell said he couldn't see Prather leaving the scene of an accident if he had not been so intoxicated.

"He's not a coward," Campbell said. "He's just a man who has been hit and hit and hit," with difficult circumstances in life, including the loss of his wife to cancer.

The testimony and a pre-sentence investigation factored into Whittenburg's decision to order consecutive sentences on the two felony counts.

The hearing was originally set for Tuesday morning, but the process was delayed because emergency responders found him unconscious about an hour before his hearing was set to begin. Prather was apparently attempting an intentional overdose by applying four patches, which administered a prescription medication through the skin.

Whittenburg, on Tuesday, revoked the conditions of Prather's release. He was taken into custody after being discharged from Spencer Hospital. The judge on Thursday posed a series of questions to Prather to make sure he was competent enough to participate in his own defense.

Prather gave up his right to a jury trial and court-appointed attorney by entering a guilty plea. He admitted operating a motor vehicle on Aug. 4 while under the influence of alcohol. He also admitted unintentionally causing Brian Beck's death and injuring Krystal Plagman as part of the plea.

In imposing the sentence, Whittenburg told Prather that if he had been more caring, more thoughtful and less self-centered, "none of use would be be here today."

"It is tragic on so many levels," she said.

Prather was ordered into the custody of the Iowa Department of Corrections immediately following the hearing. Whittenburg ordered Prather to surrender his license and submit to any treatment and rehabilitation programs required in the state correctional system.

The time Prather serves can be reduced by half for good conduct. He will also be eligible for parole, though Beck's family members said they would oppose an early release.

"Through visiting with the family and dealing with them, I got to know Brian," Houchins said. "Brian was a good father, a good husband and a good son. He had a lot of support in the community and to lose him at that young of an age -- it is a tragedy. It severely impacted the family and I think, through their testimony, you saw how much of an impact that can have on the family."