Facing 3-Year Minimum Instead Of 20 Years
posted May 20, 2005
 Nicole Greco |
The state had sought a conviction for vehicular homicide by intoxication, which carries 20 years. The jury found him guilty of the lesser included offense of vehicular homicide by reckless conduct. It carries 3-6 years.
Sides was also convicted of third-offense DUI, reckless endangerment and leaving the scene of an accident where a death occurred.
Prosecutor Jay Woods said he will ask for consecutive sentences at the sentencing hearing on July 18 before Judge Rebecca Stern.
The reckless endangerment and leaving the scene carry 1-2 years each and the DUI third carries 11 months and 29 days.
Sides still faces charges of driving on a revoked license, fraudulent application for a driver's license and possession of a revoked driver's license in the same incident.
Prosecutor Woods said, "We believe this man is a danger to the community, and we wanted a conviction on a more serious charge. I respect the judgment of the jury, but I am disappointed."
In the Oct. 29, 2003, incident, Ms. Greco, 20, was standing by her vehicle on Highway 58 after a minor accident when Sides came up driving at a high rate of speed in his pickup. She was killed instantly.
Authorities said he had passed out while drinking at a bar earlier that day, had slept for a couple of hours at the bar, then been kicked out when he became rowdy.
The family of Ms. Greco left the courthouse without making a comment.
The jury deliberated four and a half hours before returning the verdict shortly before 5 p.m.
Sides fled the scene of the accident, but was captured a couple of hours later. He has been jailed since.
The defense put on no witnesses. Public Defender Ardena Garth handled the case.
Ms. Greco was a member of Bayside Baptist Church and a 2001 graduate of Central High School where she was a member of the Concert Choir.
She was majoring in early childhood education at UTC and was planning to become a teacher. She was a member of the National Honor Society and Phi Delta Kappa.
She had just gotten off work at KMart at 9 p.m. The woman she hit in the minor wreck was a co-worker in front of her who then hit a third vehicle, who had paused to let another vehicle onto Highway 58, according to witnesses.
The road was under construction and there was only one lane of traffic open northbound at the time.
Ms. Greco had used a cellphone to call her parents about the earlier wreck.
A toxicologist with the TBI said blood drawn from Sides more than eight hours after the accident tested an 0.05 for blood alcohol. A toxicology professor at East Tennessee State University said, based on that, the defendant's blood alcohol level would have been about 0.188 when his pickup his Ms. Greco.
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