A man charged in the death almost a year ago of a well-known Hailey woman pleaded guilty Tuesday to vehicular manslaughter. However, in accord with a plea agreement, the charge was reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor.
Cody William Stevens entered his plea before Judge John K. Butler in Blaine County 5th District Court, averting a jury trial that was set to start Feb. 3.
"I plead guilty. I crossed the centerline and caused the accident," Stevens told the judge, but offered no explanation as to why the mishap occurred.
Butler informed Stevens that in pleading guilty he was admitting that he "unlawfully but without malice" caused the death of 53-year-old Bertilia Lyn Redfern on March 10, 2009. Butler further informed Stevens that the crime is punishable in Idaho by up to a year in the county jail and a fine of up to $2,000.
Stevens, a 28-year-old Twin Falls man, was originally charged with felony vehicular manslaughter, a crime punishable in Idaho by up to 15 years in prison.
The Blaine County Prosecuting Attorney's Office had originally alleged that Stevens was either under the influence of drugs or alcohol or grossly negligent at the time of the fatal accident.
However, tests conducted first at the Idaho State Police laboratory and later at a private laboratory in Pennsylvania both tested negative for drugs or alcohol in Stevens' blood.
Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Matt Fredback told the Idaho Mountain Express following Tuesday's hearing that the blood test results were the main reason that the prosecutor's office offered to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor in exchange for a guilty plea.
The case will now be remanded back to Blaine County Magistrate Court for sentencing by Judge R. Ted Israel. No sentencing date has been scheduled.
Police alleged that Stevens was actually involved in four accidents the day that Redfern, a legal secretary with the Roark Law Firm, was killed.
The first occurred at about 7 a.m. when Stevens allegedly bumped the side mirror of his 2001 Dodge Ram pickup against the side mirror of another vehicle in Shoshone. The second allegedly occurred about 9:40 a.m. south of Bellevue when Stevens reportedly lost control of his vehicle and ran off state Highway 75, colliding with a tree.
Stevens then rented another vehicle in Hailey, a 2009 Chevrolet Silverado. Police reported that Stevens then checked on his crashed pickup in Bellevue and was returning to Hailey at about 12:20 p.m. when he swerved into the southbound lane of Highway 75 north of Countryside Boulevard. Redfern, heading south in a 2002 Suburu, swerved to miss Stevens, lost control of her vehicle and was struck by a northbound 2003 GMC truck.
The fourth accident occurred a few minutes later when Stevens allegedly lost control of the Silverado in downtown Hailey and crashed into the side of the Cari's Hair Care building on Main Street.
Stevens was not charged in any of the other three accidents.
Two weeks after the accident involving Redfern, April Montano, a friend of Stevens, told the Express that the accident in which he hit the tree had "really messed him up" and may have contributed to the later accidents.
Stevens was arrested following the fourth crash. He remained incarcerated on $75,000 bond in the Blaine County jail for about two weeks. Bond was then reduced to $25,000 and Stevens posted bail and was released.
Terry Smith: tsmith@mtexpress.com
Cody William Stevens takes his seat at the defense table Tuesday in Blaine County 5th District Court prior to pleading guilty to misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter in the death of a Hailey woman. Photo by David N. Seelig
