December 30, 2019

BLOOMFIELD — A Puxico man was sentenced to prison earlier this month in connection with a 2017 high-speed crash that left a pedestrian dead. Wesley G. Faries, 42, was sentenced to eight years in the Missouri Department of Corrections by Presiding Circuit Judge Robert Mayer according to New Madrid County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Lawson, who was appointed special prosecutor for the case...

BLOOMFIELD — A Puxico man was sentenced to prison earlier this month in connection with a 2017 high-speed crash that left a pedestrian dead.

Wesley G. Faries, 42, was sentenced to eight years in the Missouri Department of Corrections by Presiding Circuit Judge Robert Mayer according to New Madrid County Prosecuting Attorney Andrew Lawson, who was appointed special prosecutor for the case.

Faries’ sentence and plea were the result of negotiations between his attorney and Lawson.

Lawson said Faries pleaded guilty to the Class C felony of first-degree involuntary manslaughter after what were described as “back and forth negotiations.”

Faries was accused of recklessly causing the Feb. 17, 2017, death of Phillip A. Manning of Sikeston by striking the 21-year-old with his vehicle at speeds in excess of 100 mph.

Manning, according to earlier reports, was in the roadway when he was struck by a 2009 Cadillac XLR being driven southbound on Highway 51, one mile south of Puxico.

As part of the plea deal, Lawson said, Faries will placed in a 120-day shock incarceration program in prison.

“If he completes his 120 days, he’ll be released on probation for five years, with the eight-year back up” should Faries later violate his probation, Lawson explained.

Manning’s family, according to Lawson, understood the challenges with the case.

“Obviously, they would have liked to see him go to prison for a longer term, but they understood the situation and what we were facing,” Lawson explained.

At the time of the crash, Faries’ father, Garey Faries, told Missouri State Highway Patrol troopers he had been driving the vehicle, which struck Manning.

During the investigation, Trooper Russell Gibson reportedly received information indicating his initial driver information was incorrect.

Both men, according to Gibson’s probable-cause affidavit, were interviewed.

The elder Faries “insisted that he was the driver,” but his son later admitted to being the driver, Gibson said.

Receive Today's News FREESign up today!

“Unfortunately, that messed up the case quite a bit,” Lawson said.

Also at issue was the Wesley Faries’ speed and the fact Manning was walking in the road at night, Lawson said.

“The highway patrol crash reconstructionist, he cited the victim walking in the road, (wearing) dark clothing at night as a contributing factor in the accident,” Lawson said. “That’s what the state’s own expert says.”

Faries, Lawson added, was in his own lane of traffic at the time of the crash.

“I think this truly was an involuntary manslaughter first case. A speeding driver recklessly caused the death of the victim,” said Lawson, who spoke with Manning’s family beforehand about the case.

Manning’s family, Lawson said, were disappointed in the case’s outcome, but not upset.

“They were sad they lost a loved one, but understand the facts of the case were not murder (but) involuntary manslaughter,” which has a “much different (punishment range) than murder.”

Lawson said the family did not object to the sentence at the sentencing hearing.

“The victim’s mother, grandmother and sister all testified,” Lawson said. “They just spoke briefly with the court about how this loss of their loved one effected them.”

Wesley Faries’ employer, Lawson said, also addressed the court.

At the time of Wesley Faries’ sentencing, the case against his 79-year-old father was dismissed by the state.

The elder Faries had been charged with the Class E felony of hindering prosecution. He was accused of preventing the prosecution of his son by falsely claiming he was the driver at the time of the crash.

Lawson said he dismissed the elder Faries’ case to “get the deal down. The son was driving the car. I made the decision to make that trade; however, I wish the dad would have plead too.”

For the facts of the case, Lawson thinks “this was a good disposition.

“Obviously, he’s got a big sentence hanging over his head when he gets out of the DOC,” Lawson said. “We won’t know how it ends until he walks out of his probation” at the end of five years.

Advertisement
Advertisement
Receive Today's News FREESign up today!