Sutton man charged for May death of motorcycle rider

PALMER — A Sutton man has been charged with criminally negligent homicide in the traffic death of another Sutton man in May.

Charging documents show the accident occurred May 12, 2010. According to Alaska State Troopers, Thomas Schill, 48, was driving a 2003 Victory motorcycle and slowing to turn off the Glenn Highway near Mile 59.

As he slowed, Michael Carney, 60, rear-ended him while driving a Ford pickup. Troopers said at the time that Schill wasn’t wearing a helmet and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Though the accident happened in May, charges weren’t officially filed until Dec. 30. Palmer District Attorney Roman Kalytiak said that it’s not unusual for these kinds of cases to take some time before they’re presented to a grand jury.

“It’s very typical for the police agencies to send us these fatals quite awhile after they happen because of all the information that has to be collected — things like medical records, vehicular inspections need to be done, sometimes vehicles have the boxes in them which may indicate how fast they were going, that kind of thing,” Kalytiak said.

Usually prosecutors, when evaluating evidence, are looking at things a driver might have done wrong, like traffic laws he may have violated.

“In this case I believe the focus of the case was excessive speed and also not paying attention to what was in front of the driver,” Kalytiak said. “I don’t think this is a case that involves intoxication, but I think this involves speed coupled with failing to keep a proper lookout.”

He said a grand jury decided to charge Carney. That’s typical for these kinds of cases, Kalytiak said, unless it’s one prosecutors think is obviously not one that involves any negligence.

“For example if it was a snowstorm or an icy road and somebody did their best to control the vehicle and were operating at speeds appropriate for the conditions but lost control,” he said.

Criminally negligent homicide is a class B felony in Alaska, which puts it two rungs down on the ladder of legal severity from murder. It is punishable by between one and 10 years in prison, depending mostly on how many felony convictions Carney has in his past.

Court records show no prior criminal cases filed against anyone named Michael Carney in Alaska, though oftentimes prosecutors will look for convictions in other states when it comes time for sentencing.

Still, it wouldn’t be out of the ordinary if Carney had a clean record.

“With these cases it’s not necessarily a case where the defendant is a real bad guy or a career criminal or anything. It’s more of a circumstantial thing,” Kalytiak said.

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