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NEWPORT – A man who said he thought he hit a deer pleaded guilty to hit and run death after he failed to report that he was driving the car that killed a man walking down Highway 20, near Cusick New Years Day evening, 2021.
Christopher Joe Mackin, 42, pleaded guilty before Judge Robin McCroskey in Pend Oreille County Superior Court Thursday, June 6. The official charge was “Duty in case of personal injury or death or damage to attended vehicle or other property.”
Prosecuting attorney Dolly Hunt and defense attorney Carson Van Valkenburg agreed to the plea deal in which Mackin was to be sentenced under a first-time offender waiver and receive 90 days confinement and six months community custody. The 90 days was the maximum under the waiver. Without the waiver, Mackin was facing a sentencing range of 31-41 months, with a potential maximum of 10 years prison time.
Hunt sought 90 days in jail, Van Valkenburg argued for home confinement.
“We’re asking for the maximum sentence under the first-time offender waiver,” Hunt said, noting Mackin was pleading as charged. She said the crime occurred after the wreck when Mackin had a duty to report the collision, not for the fatal collision itself. Hunt said there was no indication of drug or alcohol abuse so she didn’t seek the maximum year community custody and asked for six months instead.
She said she had discussed her sentence recommendation with the victim’s sister.
As with any case in which a loved one dies, no sentence is appropriate for the family because it is not going to bring their loved one back, Hunt said. She said she had spoken with the family member several times, keeping her up to date on the case.
Van Valkenburg said on the night of the fatality, Mackin was driving south towards Spokane late on a foggy night on an unlighted stretch of highway. The victim was walking down the road and had been seen by others.
“He came out of nowhere,” Van Valkenburg said of the victim, and Mackin hit the man. He drove down the road and pulled over and got out and looked to see what he hit. What he didn’t do was walk all the way back to where the accident occurred, Van Valkenburg said.
Mackin subsequentially heard that it was a person who died as a result of the collision. He was afraid to come forward.
Ultimately, a relative tipped off the police and, with his attorney, Mackin turned himself in to authorities.
Mackin said if he thought he hit a person, he would have stopped and done his duty. He stopped as soon as he could pull off the road and looked.
“I thought I hit a deer,” Mackin said. He looked underneath his truck, then walked down the road a little. “I figured the deer got up and run off,” he said.
He said he was sorry and apologized to the family and asked them for forgiveness.
Dan Harvison spoke for the defense. He said he had employed Mackin and was impressed with his work ethic. “He’s never drank in my presence,” he said. “I’ve never seen him drunk. He doesn’t do drugs.”
Mackin finally got a good job, Harvison said.
If the court could give Mackin a chance so that he doesn’t lose the job, he would be a great person for the community.
McCroskey said she believed Mackin when he says he thought he hit a deer. Then, when he figured out that he hit a person, the situation became worse for him as he struggled with what to do, McCroskey said.
She granted the firsttime offender waiver and did not give Mackin any jail time.
“I don’t think being punitive at this time is going to serve any purpose,” she said. She said she remembers the wreck. She noted the dark clothing the victim was wearing, the foggy conditions and that other people who said the victim was behaving erratically that night.
“Taking all that into account, I think you have paid the price,” she said. She said he didn’t do enough the night of the wreck. “It’s clear that you did not report it. Even if he had been a deer, you should have reported it.”
She said that she didn’t think he would do it again and sentenced him to six months community custody and $700 in legal financial obligations.
