Jerk of a wheel causes deaths, prison sentence

PALMER — A Wasilla man has accepted responsibility for causing a high-speed wreck in September, agreeing to plead guilty to two counts of manslaughter.

Kyle Bissonette, 21, appeared well-dressed and well-groomed in court Friday, giving short, two-word answers to all the questions he was asked as he entered his plea.

Though the wreck happened in the fall, Bissonette wasn’t arrested until February. Alaska State Troopers said they needed that time to investigate.

The case started on a Saturday afternoon with a gruesome car wreck on the Parks Highway near Johnson Road.

Bissonette and four other people were in a Chevrolet Trailblazer. Tim Abell and his stepdaughter, Donna Gallant, were in a Plymouth Horizon. Abell, who was riding shotgun, said later that the Trailblazer came into the other lane in the blink of an eye and Gallant had little, if any, time to react.

Bissonette wasn’t driving the Trailblazer. But prosecutors say he caused the wreck when he jerked the wheel as a 15-year-old drove.

Nobody walked away from the wreck unhurt.

Bissonette, the Trailblazer’s driver, and two 16-year-old passengers were taken to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center. Chelsea Johnston, 16, was also in the SUV. She was flown to Anchorage where she died two weeks later.

In the Plymouth, Donna Gallant, 20, and her stepfather, were both seriously injured. Gallant was pregnant and lost her baby in the wreck and spent a good deal of the ensuing months in and out of the hospital.

Bissonette was charged with two counts of manslaughter — one for the killing of an unborn child — four of assault and one each of underage drinking and allowing an unauthorized person to drive.

In addition to the his guilty plea on the manslaughter charges — the most serious he faced — Bissonette agreed to a guilty plea on an assault count consolidating the four he was charged with.

Prosecutor Rick Allen told Superior Court Judge Eric Smith that attorneys in the case had not worked out a sentence and thus it was up to the judge to decide how much time Bissonette will serve.

Smith, in making sure Bissonette wanted to accept the agreement, told the defendant that each manslaughter charge carries a sentence of up to 10 years in prison and a $100,000 fine. The assault charge carries five years with a $10,000 fine.

Bissonette is due to receive his sentence on Oct. 23 at 1:30 p.m.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.