Jeremey Andrew Carpenter, charged with vehicular homicide while driving under the influence, appeared in Cascade County District Court on Wednesday, January 29, 2025, via Zoom for a change of plea hearing.
Carpenter was charged after driving southbound in the northbound lanes of I-15 between Ulm and Cascade on July 11th, 2024, crashing into 58-year-old Daniel Orson Wells, who died at the scene.
Carpenter’s blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, and cocaine was also present in his blood.
On Wednesday, Carpenter pleaded guilty to a felony charge of vehicular homicide as part of a plea agreement.
Currently, vehicular homicide carries a maximum sentence of 30 years.
Carpenter’s plea agreement recommends 20 years in prison, and another 10 years suspended.
His attorney, Jason Trinity Holden, told MTN News, “Mr. Carpenter has accepted responsibility and will comply with any sentence the court decides."
Penalties for killing someone while driving under the influence has been a topic at the Montana Legislature this week.
The House Judiciary Committee held a hearing on House Bill 267, also called Bobby’s Law, which proposes that anyone who kills someone while driving with a blood alcohol content of twice the legal limit would be charged with aggravated vehicular homicide, without requiring prosecutors to prove the driver acted negligently.
The bill aims to to strengthen drunk driving laws and hopefully deter drunk driving.
The Montana Department of Transportation reports that in 2022, 34% of all fatalities in Montana were the result of alcohol impaired driving. The bill could be reviewed by the House later this week.
(AUGUST 6, 2024) Jeremey Andrew Carpenter is facing a charge of felony vehicular homicide in Great Falls. Carpenter was arrested on Friday, August 2, 2024.
Carpenter is charged with driving a pickup truck southbound in the northbound lanes of Interstate 15 between Ulm and Cascade on July 11, 2024, and crashing into a northbound GMC Sierra, killing the other driver.
Cascade County Sheriff/Coroner Jesse Slaughter identified 58-year old Daniel Orson Wells as the the man who died in the crash.
September 25, 1965 - July 11, 2024
According to the charging documents, Carpenter told the MHP trooper at the scene that he had not been driving the pickup truck, saying that he had been sleeping in the passenger seat at the time of the crash.
Carpenter identified another person as the driver of the pickup truck, and said the other person had run away from the crash scene.
The MHP trooper noted that Carpenter smelled of alcohol, and his eyes were red and watery.
He conducted a search of Carpenter and found several dime-sized plastic baggies with a white powder inside that later tested positive for cocaine.
The trooper also noted several open containers of alcohol in the pickup truck, and Carpenter reportedly told the trooper that he had been drinking at a bar in Ulm and a bar in Cascade.
A Cascade County Sheriff's deputy went to the home of the person that Carpenter had identified as the driver of the pickup truck. The person was sober and had no injuries, and told the deputy that he had not been with Carpenter. The person showed the deputy text messages between himself and Carpenter from earlier in which he apologized for staying home and falling asleep earlier in the evening.
Carpenter was taken to a Great Falls hospital via ambulance where he was admitted for his injuries.
A blood sample taken when Carpenter was admitted to the hospital yielded a blood alcohol level of 0.171, which more than twice the legal limit for operating a vehicle. In addition, cocaine was also present in his blood.
On July 15, investigators talked with Carpenter, who reportedly admitted that he had been alone in the pickup truck at the time of the crash, and that he had been drinking alcohol throughout the day prior to the crash.
Bail for Carpenter was set at $500,000.
