Appomattox man gets three months in wreck

BEDFORD — An Appomattox man was sentenced to three months in jail Wednesday morning after pleading guilty to driving drunk in a May wreck that injured a Lynchburg prosecutor and killed her dog.

Bradley Wray Hutcherson, 23, pleaded guilty in Bedford County General District Court to driving with a blood-alcohol level of more than twice the legal limit, his second DUI in five years. He also pleaded guilty to driving while his license was suspended, without insurance, without an inspection and without wearing a seat belt.

A Virginia State Police trooper reported Hutcherson was driving drunk at a high rate of speed

May 13 when his car slammed into Gretchen Hutt’s F-250 pickup truck after clipping a small SUV near the intersection of U.S. 221 and Enterprise Drive in Forest.

Hutt is an assistant commonwealth’s attorney in Lynchburg.

She told the judge she had to be taken to the hospital twice because of her injuries and that her car insurance was also not sufficient to replace her totaled truck.

She asked what Hutcherson was doing behind the wheel without a driver’s license or insurance with a 0.20 blood-alcohol level.

Drivers are presumed to be impaired in Virginia at 0.08.

“He killed my dog and I want him to know that’s what his good time cost me,” she said.

She said he was lucky to have hit her pickup truck instead of a family sedan, since he could have killed the occupants of a less-sturdy vehicle.

Hutcherson told Hutt he was sorry about her dog and that he regretted his actions, but had been having anything but a good time.

He said a close friend had died in February and that a relative had died recently. He said he had been with family earlier in the night and drank too much before making a bad decision to get in the car.

Retired Charlottesville judge Steve Helvin served as a substitute for the regular general district court judges to avoid a conflict of interest due to Hutt’s frequent interaction with the court.

Although he is retired, Helvin said he still worries some nights that sentences like the one pronounced Wednesday will not do enough to deter other drunk drivers. He told Hutt he believed Hutcherson’s jail sentence was substantial, but “I’m not sure that’s going to answer the problem.”

Hutcherson was convicted of his first DUI in Appomattox County in 2007 with a blood-alcohol level of 0.14.

Bedford County Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney John Wheelock said Hutcherson’s driver’s license was suspended for three years and 30 days, although he may ask the court for a license after a year.

Wheelock said that because this is Hutcherson’s second DUI conviction in five years, he must also have a device installed in his car, should he get a driver’s license, that requires the driver to perform a breath test before the car can be turned on. The law also required a fine of $500 and a 25-day mandatory minimum jail sentence because this is his second DUI and because of his blood-alcohol level.

Hutcherson was fined a total of $180 for his other convictions.

Helvin allowed Hutcherson to report to jail on Sept. 18 so that he may continue to get medical treatment for injuries sustained in the wreck. Hutcherson came to court Wednesday in a walking cast, crutches and with a thick scar across most of his face.