Judge postpones sentencing

KATE KELLY

Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Bruce Tice has not only racked up 12 criminal convictions in his 36 years on Earth, but, according to his twin sister's testimony during his recent trial, he has displayed disturbing behavior against others since he was a child - including having her take the blame for an ATV accident that happened when they were about 11 and sexually abusing a young girl they were baby-sitting when they were teenagers.

For these reasons and a few others, Assistant District Attorney Bob Collins wants Palmer Superior Court Judge Eric Smith on Monday to give Tice not only the maximum sentence of 20 years for the Feb. 28, 2003 vehicle death of his girlfriend's 5-year-old daughter, but another six years on top of that.

"He is so cold and calculating that even the death of a chld, a child he allegedly loved, was not enough to change his narcissistic lifestyle," Collins wrote in a sentencing memorandum dated July 18. "His immediate and continued response to the death of [Kristin Maddux] was to do everything he could to avoid responsibility. He will reoffend. He will not be rehabilitated. He is a danger to the community, especially children."

Tice was convicted of aggravated manslaughter in April after a Palmer jury found him guilty of driving a 1983 Subaru wagon while drunk, causing it to roll and kill Kristin, who was not wearing a seat belt. The girl's 3-year-old sister, Celine, who was also not buckled up, was also injured in the crash, which occurred along Stacy Street in the Vienna Woods subdivision outside Wasilla. The girls' mother, Shelly Maddux, was in the car when the crash occurred.

The jury also found Tice guilty of criminally negligent homicide, first-degree assault, two counts of reckless endangerment and driving under the influence.

Collins had hoped Tice would be sentenced last Friday, but Tice protested the fact that he wasn't able to meet with the public defender assigned to his case at the last minute and that she is not up to speed on 25 problems he saw in the way his case was handled.

"I want to motion the court for a retrial," Tice said in court Friday morning, adding he would rather represent himself than have a lawyer he didn't know.

Displaying signs of impatience toward Tice, Judge Eric Smith told him that although he realized Tice had issues with his case, his sentencing hearing was not the place to bring them up.

"You have a lot of points for appeal, but you'll have to wait for the appropriate time and manner," Smith told him.

Public Defender Diane Foster affirmed for the court that she had not had a chance to talk with the defendant because she thought his original counsel, Abigail Sheldon, would be handling Tice's sentencing hearing. Sheldon has opened her own private practice and no longer serves as a public defender.

Foster asked the judge to consider postponing the sentencing until either later Friday or on Monday.

Collins cautioned the court against falling for what he said was Tice's smooth talk.

"This defendant has done nothing but lie and manipulate," Collins argued. "He's experienced enough in sentencing to know how to seize an opportunity to delay the hearing."

Nevertheless, Smith postponed the hearing until 1 p.m. Monday to give Foster a chance to meet with Tice.

Jurors convicted Maddux, 31, Tice's former lover, of hindering prosecution, a class C felony, because she first claimed she was driving when the crash occurred, revealing the truth a year later after a grand jury witness told prosecutors he saw a man driving the car that day. Maddux, who had been out on bail, faced a maximum of five years in prison, but ended up with three months of jail and three months of probation when she was sentenced Friday morning.

Collins, in his memo to the court, argued that Tice has failed at treatment, both as a sex offender and for substance abuse, and so should not be given any leniency. He cited previous cases in which defendants were given additional years of incarceration due to their criminal histories.

Collins noted that Tice has had trouble with the law since being convicted of vehicle theft in 1989, sexual abuse of a minor in 1994, shoplifting in 2000 and second-degree theft in 2002, and that this is his third felony conviction.

"For the court to exceed the maximum sentence for the most serious crime, the court must make an express finding that the composite sentence is necessary for the protection of the community," Collins wrote in the memo. "The defendant can neither be rehabilitated nor deterred by a shorter sentence."

After Friday's proceeding, Shelly Maddux's mother, Elizabeth Holland, talked to Foster about a letter Tice wrote that she wanted her to read.

"Bruce wanted the court to hear his letter," said Holland of the man who was convicted of causing the death of one of her granddaughters and the injuries to another. "He was wanting to get things out into the open."

Holland said she felt Tice wasn't given a fair trial and that no one understands who he really is.

"He was always kind and considerate to me," Holland said as she gripped the letter, adding she wanted to speak in his defense during his sentencing. "I think some of the things that happened in the trial was unfair, like when his father and sister testified against him and they hadn't seen him in 17 years."

Contact Kate Kelly at

352-2284.