Driver who caused crash that killed 3 gets 6 years

EVERETT — Lisa McCollum cried as she remembered her mother's sweet potatoes covered in marshmallows, her "shabby-chic" style and her unconditional love.

Those memories gave way to anger as she faced the man who took 52-year-old Jenny McCollum away from her family in a Feb. 23 drunken-driving accident that killed two others.

"Why would you choose to race 80 mph through a neighborhood?" McCollum sobbed. "You, Grant Fosheim, stole more than three lives with your cool Mustang. How cool are you now with your jumpsuit and your shackles?"

Fosheim, 20, was sentenced yesterday to six years and three months in prison for the fatal accident that resulted from a high-speed race through downtown Everett. Fosheim's car slammed into McCollum's van, killing her and two passengers in Fosheim's car, Michael Seavy and Cory Baudry.

Before sentencing Fosheim, Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Linda Krese told victims' friends and families packed into the courtroom that her hands were tied by the state's sentencing guidelines, which didn't allow a harsher penalty. She understood that for many the sentence was not long enough.

Fosheim; Baudry, 18; and Seavy were celebrating Seavy's 20th birthday on the night of the crash. After leaving a party, Fosheim was racing with a sport-utility vehicle through downtown Everett when he sped through a stop sign and struck McCollum's van.

Prosecutors say Fosheim's blood-alcohol content was twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent when it was measured two hours after the crash.

Joseph Dale Hecht, 17, the driver of the sport-utility vehicle, is serving up to two years in a state juvenile-rehabilitation center for three counts of vehicular homicide.

Fosheim, of Everett, cried during portions of yesterday's lengthy sentencing hearing. The former pizza delivery driver had pleaded guilty to three counts of vehicular homicide on Nov. 26.

"I'm so very sorry," Fosheim tearfully said to the audience.

But Michelle Jodock shook violently as she told Fosheim that she had trusted him with her fiancée.

"You messed up so many times in your life and you never learned," said Jodock, who was engaged to Seavy. "He (Seavy) could have done anything with his life, but you took that away."

Both Jodock and Baudry's mother, Pam, begged Fosheim to learn from the tragedy.

"I know Grant is not a bad person. He just made a really, really bad choice that is just killing us," said Pam Baudry. "Grant, never do this again, never ever."

Dan Terry, a third passenger in Fosheim's car, suffered a broken neck in the crash. As part of his plea agreement, Fosheim did not face criminal charges for Terry's injuries.

Gene Fosheim, Grant's father, told the courtroom that his son "made a damn stupid mistake" which he will pay for for the rest of his life.

Because Fosheim was enrolled in Snohomish County Drug Court at the time of the crash, Krese said, he had all the more reason to know what he did was wrong.

In March 2002, Fosheim was arrested after police found him unconscious in a car parked with the engine running. A search of the car turned up marijuana, a digital scale and about $1,000. He entered Drug Court, a program to help get nonviolent felony offenders drug treatment without sentencing them to prison, but was kicked out because of the fatal crash.

"The rest of your life should be an act of atonement," Krese told Fosheim. "You can't bring those three people back, but you can do things to make other people's lives better."

Jennifer Sullivan: 425-783-0604 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com