A Lusk man on Thursday was sentenced to two years of probation for two counts of misdemeanor vehicular homicide based on negligence for the deaths of two Korean citizens two years ago.
Alexander Richardson heard the sentence from Natrona County District Court Judge Kerri Johnson. He will serve two separate 1-year probation sentences for each count.
Johnson noted that Richardson’s actions were not intentional and no punishment could amount to the guilty Richardson is living through.
In February, a jury found Richardson guilty of the two misdemeanor counts, but acquitted him of two felony counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and one felony count of aggravated assault resulting from a crash west of Casper that killed a mother and her child in August 2017.
If he had been convicted of the felonies, Richardson could have faced up to 50 years of imprisonment — 20 years each for the two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide and 10 years for the aggravated assault charge.
Richardson was charged after his Ford F-250 drifted across the center line of Wyoming Highway 220 into the westbound lane, where it collided with a Ford Explorer carrying 46-year-old Soon Young Lee, Bong Jun Seo and 3-year-old Jaehyeok Seo.
The family from Korea had flown to Denver for a tour through the west with stops at Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse monument in South Dakota, and a trip to Devils Tower, Assistant District Attorney Ava Bell said.
They ate lunch in Casper on Aug. 23, 2017, and were driving to Utah when the crash happened near Independence Rock. Lee, who was driving, died instantly. Jaehyeok Seo died at the scene. Bong Jun Seo was badly injured.
Also injured was Richardson, who started the day in Roosevelt, Utah, where he had worked a 12-hour shift at the end of a 14-day hitch. About 6 a.m., he began driving to Lusk without a nap or a rest according to the prosecution.