STARKVILLE — Eric Gregory received five years probation and an $800 fine Friday for his role in a 2008 fatal accident that killed two people and seriously injured another.
Gregory pleaded guilty Monday to accessory after the fact for assisting Ryan Crick, a former officer with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, in leaving the scene of an accident on Oktoc Road that killed Matthew Gaskin, 23, of Aberdeen, and Jessica Burks, 27, of Starkville. Heather Kay McMillian, then 26, was injured in the wreck.
Judge Lee Howard gave Gregory a five-year prison sentence but suspended it.
On Monday, the prosecution called several character witnesses, including Laura Gaskin, the mother of Matthew Gaskin, and McMillian, who both said Gregory should receive the maximum sentence — five years in prison — since he made the conscious decision to drive past the accident and drive Crick to his home in Louisville.
Crick was driving a Jeep that belonged to Gregory and was intoxicated at the time of the two-vehicle accident. Crick called Gregory to pick him up, and when he arrived at the scene the accident had already occurred. Gregory found Crick hiding behind a tree and drove him to his home in Louisville before Crick turned himself in to police six hours later.
Crick pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated DUI in 2009 and was sentenced to 60 years in prison.
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