Man gets 32 years for role in crash

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GREENFIELD — Death is so final, Macey Lisk told the judge.

Sitting on the witness stand in Hancock County Superior Court 1, she tried to put into words the pain and heartbreak her family has felt since her mother died in a car crash.

A year has passed since that fateful night when Dalene Charron, a 45-year-old Greenfield resident, was fatally injured while riding in the front seat of a car driven by her boyfriend, 43-year-old Jason Phelps.

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Phelps was driving with a blood-alcohol content more than three times the legal limit at the time of the wreck and recently admitted to causing Charron’s death — the second time in a decade he’s admitted to causing a fatal accident while intoxicated behind the wheel, records show.

A judged this week ordered Phelps to serve a 32-year sentence, upholding a plea agreement reached by prosecutors and Phelps’ defense attorney. The first 25 years of the sentence will be spent locked in an Indiana Department of Correction facility, with the remaining seven years spend on probation. His time on probation will include one year on home detention.

While asking that Phelps be handed the strictest sentence, Lisk told the judge of the tumultuous relationship her mother and Phelps had, one that went on and off for the better part of 20 years and wasn’t always healthy.

But despite those hardships, Charron was the rock of their family, Lisk said. Charron left behind three children and six grandchildren who loved her, who miss her every day, Lisk said. And if Phelps had really cared for her, he would have made better choices, she said.

“If he loved my mother, he wouldn’t have put us through this pain,” Lisk said.

The crash that killed Charron happened late March 4, 2017.

Phelps told police he and Charron were coming home from a bar in Knightstown, and he and Charron had taken turns driving, traded spots several times during their 14-mile trip back to Greenfield, records state.

Phelps sped through a curve in State Road 9, just south of downtown Greenfield and lost control of his vehicle. The car rolled several times and hit a home in the 600 block of South State Street.

Charron sustained serious injuries and died shortly after at an Indianapolis hospital, officials said.

Phelps sustained a broken arm but fled the area after being released from the hospital. It took officers nearly two months to track him down and arrest him.

Phelps was charged with a single Level 4 felony count of causing death while operating while intoxicated, which he pleaded guilty to last month.

Phelps spoke briefly during his sentencing hearing, his voice breaking between sobs.

He apologized to Charron’s family, telling them he mourns her loss, too.

“There is nothing I can say or do to change the outcome of the decisions I decided to make that night,” Phelps said. “I deal with this (grief) every single day and will continue to deal with this until the day I die.”

Charron’s is the second life Phelps took while being intoxicated behind the wheel.

In 2007, Phelps admitted to using cocaine and marijuana before accidentally backing his truck over 75-year-old Inell Carter in a parking lot in Greenfield, causing fatal injuries. He served a 16-year sentence, dividing the time equally between prison and probation.

Family members of Carter’s sat alongside Charron’s loved ones, listening from the gallery of the courtroom as the judge handed down his decision.

Carter’s her sister, Betty Fahnestock, said she was pleased with the sentence Phelps received. The new case dredged up all the old hurt and memories from when Carter died, Fahnestock said. She hopes she can now reconcile their pain while Phelps serves his punishment.

“I’ll have to start healing all over again,” she said.