Dues To Be Formally Sentenced

Sonora, CA — Joanne Dues is scheduled to be formally sentenced at 1:30 this afternoon for the hit-and-run drunk driving death of 43 year old Jackson Lawe.

Dues was responsible for the death of Terry Schroeder´s son Friday evening, September 29th, on Hwy 108 west of the North Sunshine Drive exit. Dues´ alcohol blood content at the time of the accident was .24 or three times the legal limit.

Lawe, who had suffered a psychotic breakdown a number of years earlier according to his mother, was walking in an eastbound direction on the south side of the roadway. Until this past week, flowers marked the spot where Lawe was hit.

Acquaintances of Lawe who witnessed the incident followed the 55 year old Dues to her Soulsbyville home where she was arrested. Unable to meet bail, the former Tuolumne General Hospital employee has been jailed ever since.

The sentence has already been agreed upon; four years in prison. District Attorney Donald Segestrom says the sentence might be lighter than some might expect for a felony hit and run D.U.I. fatality, but Dues had no criminal history prior to this incident.

Written by Bill Johnson