Wasilla man sentenced on manslaughter, DUI charges

PALMER — "No parent ever wants to have a child die before they do no matter how old that child is. We think about him all the time. You took that son, father away from us," Donna Jean MacDonald told 32-year old Ross Andrew Forys in Palmer Superior Court Wednesday morning.

Forys was the driver of a vehicle that killed her 20-year old son Cameron R. MacDonald of Wasilla. Superior Court Judge Gregory Heath sentenced Forys to eight years in prison with three suspended on charges of manslaughter and DUI.

"Not a day goes by I don't think of him and I don't cry," MacDonald said as she and other family members in the audience fought back tears. "You chose to drink that night and you killed Cameron. It's like you took a knife and killed me.

"I never hated you. I don't want anything that happened and I cannot do anything less than what my savior has done for me and that is foregiveness," MacDonald told Forys. You are forgiven,"

MacDonald said although she knows God has forgiven him as she has, that doesn't make him any less responsible for his actions.

"You will live with that forever," said MacDonald. "Cameron would want you to seek God in however way you can."

Forys was driving his 2012 Jeep Wrangler 10 p.m., April 5, 2014 when he made a left turn off Bogard Road onto Caribou Street in Wasilla when he entered the wrong lane of traffic colliding with MacDonald's 1980 Yamaha motorcycle pinning the father of one under the Jeep.

After a brief recess, Forys was given the opportunity to make a statement. Heath said such action was not necessary, but voluntary. Forys said he wanted to do so.

"I can't even begin to think about how much pain and loss you are all feeling as a result of my terrible choices," Forys said addressing his gaze and words to the MacDonald family. "I am ashamed and disgusted with the actions and decisions that I made...I am devastated by the role in ending the life of your loved one."

Fighting back tears, Forys then turned to Heath.

"I apologize for the time, the effort, the resources, and the money the state has had to utilize on my case all because the careless choices and actions that I made. The situation sickens me when I think of the pain I caused so many people," Forys said. "I've spent my life helping others which make this all the more horrifying for me. I respect and accept the sentence and recommendations of this court."

"These situations are about as bad as it gets," Heath said in setting sentence. The judge said he had great reservation about how much alcohol Forys had to drink the night of the accident calling it an extraordinary amount. Fory's blood alcohol content (BAC) level was more than 2.5 times the legal .08 level.

Forys could have faced up to 20 years in jail and a $250,000 fine on the manslaughter charge. Presentence report guidelines put suggested jail time in the 5-9 year range. In addition to prison, Forys faces three years probation, court costs of $1930, 90-day license revocation and, after his release, six months of using an interlocking electronic device to monitor BAC levels while operating a motor vehicle.