68 months for fatal wreck

A King County Jail officer leads Jarrod Wayne Bandy away after he received the maximum sentence for vehicular homicide for the death of Robert Vasen on March 25. Photos of the victim are on posters at left in the courtroom. (ALAN BERNER / THE SEATTLE TIMES)

A courtroom audience broke into applause Friday as Jarrod Wayne Bandy received the maximum sentence for vehicular homicide.

Superior Court Judge Julie Spector called the case "one of the most remarkable vehicular homicides that has ever appeared" before the court.

Bandy, 21, pleaded guilty to running a red light March 25 in downtown Bellevue and striking another car, killing Robert Vasen, a rear-seat passenger. Vasen, 20, was a Bellevue High School graduate and University of Washington student.

Spector imposed the maximum possible sentence — five years, eight months — explaining that Supreme Court decisions prevented her from departing from standard sentencing guidelines, which provide for a range of from 51 to 68 months in prison. The sentence will be served concurrently with 20-month terms for lesser vehicular-assault convictions.

A prosecutor revealed for the first time that Bandy in Internet postings on May 9 wrote about "going away" to prison, but added that he still had time "to party like a rock star," said Senior Deputy Prosecutor Amy Freedheim.

"That it is being punished as lightly as it is is perhaps an embarrassment to the state," Freedheim said.

The Vasen family asked that attention be centered on the goodness of Robert's life; he was majoring in economics at UW and expected to graduate in 2007. He regularly volunteered at Children's Hospital & Regional Medical Center, assisting with care for young patients in physical therapy, where he had been a patient.

Bandy's attorney, Andrew Huff, argued that his client was remorseful, was not a drug dealer or out partying and has spent his time doing yoga.

Bandy's mother, Sherry Bandy, said the tragedy also has destroyed their family and that she shares her son's guilt.

In imposing her sentence, Spector noted that at the time of the accident Bandy had a blood-alcohol reading of 0.16 percent, twice the state limit. The Jeep he was driving had six passengers when it struck the BMW carrying Vasen and four others.

Peyton Whitely: 206-464-2259