INDIANAPOLIS -- A Fortville man convicted of killing two construction workers in a 2014 highway work zone crash was re-sentenced to seven years in prison on Wednesday following a two-day hearing.
Jordan Stafford was originally sentenced in August 2016 to 10 years in prison on two counts of reckless operation of a vehicle in a highway work zone causing death.
Attorneys for Stafford appealed the sentence, arguing that their client’s one act of reckless driving could not sustain two convictions. In August 2017, the Indiana Court of Appeals agreed, sending the case back to a Marion County judge to re-sentence Stafford.
Because Stafford has already served 562 days in prison (and earned an equivalent 562 days of “good time” credit), the new sentence means he could now be released as early as January 2020. His previous earliest possible release date was January 2021.
Following his prison sentence, Stafford was ordered to serve six months of work release – during which he must submit to drug testing at least twice a week and be on GPS monitoring.
Those probation violations, Carlisle said, showed Stafford had, “…very little concern or motivation toward rehabilitation.”
Carlisle said she gave Stafford some credit for his good behavior in prison and for his stated willingness to make restitution to the families of his victims.
The families of those victims, Kenneth Duerson Jr. and Coty DeMoss, where in the courtroom Wednesday to hear Stafford's new sentence. They declined to comment on the sentence after it was read.
Duerson and DeMoss were killed when Stafford struck a directional arrow board on Interstate 69 in May 2014.
READ | Friends, family speak out after deadly I-69 crash
Stafford, who was 22 at the time, was driving a pickup truck traveling 72 miles-per-hour when he crashed into their work site.
PREVIOUS | 2 road workers killed in crash on Interstate 69 southbound near 82nd and 96th streets | Work zone deaths: Driver in deadly I-69 construction worker crash not charged, not paying fines
Stafford has made little public comment about the case. In an interview with Call 6 Investigator Kara Kenney, though, he apologized for his actions, saying, “I’m sorry, and there’s nothing I can ever do to make up for what happened."
MORE FROM THE CRIME BEAT | Indianapolis sets all-time homicide record for third year in a row | MAP: Indy's most dangerous neighborhoods | The Night the Sky Caught Fire: The Untold Stories of Richmond Hill | Convicted child molester reveals how he selected & groomed his victims | Teens killed man over weed and a pair of Air Jordans, police say | MAP: 2017 Indianapolis homicides
