Rishi Shah
News Editor
David Lamar, the man responsible for the crash that took the life of sophomore Michael Sot, pleaded guilty to two counts of third-degree assault by auto and one count of second-degree death by auto in a virtual hearing on June 11.
The collision occurred the night of Dec. 2, 2018, and left five students severely injured. Sot died in the hospital two days later.
During the hearing, Superior Court Judge Janetta D. Marbrey asked Lamar a series of questions to determine if he was pleading guilty “knowingly, intelligently and voluntarily” to the charges.
Lamar verified that he had been drinking the night of the accident at the now-closed Landmark Americana Tap & Grill and had been operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol content nearly three times the legal limit, according to NJ.com.
He confirmed that while driving under the influence of alcohol on Pennington Road, he swerved into oncoming traffic, crossed the double-yellow lines and hit Sot’s vehicle head-on.
A member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, Sot was the designated driver for his friends the night of the accident.
Marbrey explained that the maximum sentence for the second-degree death by auto offense was 10 years and five years for each of the third-degree assaults by auto charges, coming out to a maximum sentence of 20 years incarceration and $180,000 in fines.
According to the plea agreement arranged by the prosecutors and proposed by Assistant Prosecutor Michael Grillo on behalf of the state, Lamar would serve a total of 12 years in prison: six in state prison subject to the No Early Release Act for the second-degree death by auto offense followed by two consecutive three-year prison terms for the third-degree offenses.
Grillo said he understood Lamar sought a reduced prison sentence, and Lord confirmed that she would seek a lesser sentence during the hearing.
With the facts established and confirmation that Lamar was acting on his own, Marbrey accepted the guilty plea and moved the case to sentencing.
The in-person sentencing will take place on Monday, Sept. 13 at 1:30 p.m., according to Marbrey. Grillo mentioned that he had to verify that the date worked for the victims and their families as well.
Candice Buno-Sot, Sot’s mother, reflected on the guilty plea, saying it was “a long time coming.” She acknowledged the delays in the process since the night of the accident, but also expressed relief at the outcome.
She also made it clear that while she wanted the maximum sentencing, she understood that the outcome was out of her hands.
“We wanted maximum sentencing, but the justice system is what it is and instead of 10 years for Michael’s homicide, he got six,” Buno-Sot said. “If I was just being emotional, 20 years wouldn’t have been enough. But I can’t go against what our judicial system has laid out … I have to accept that the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office did the best that they could, considering everything.”
Buno-Sot has worked to honor Sot’s tragic death with the John R. Elliott HERO Campaign, a non-profit organization devoted to getting people to pledge to be designated drivers in an effort to reduce drunk driving accidents. She said there would be a remembrance walk in Sot’s memory on Saturday, June 19 in his hometown of Clark, NJ at his alma mater Arthur L. Johnson High School as part of the HERO Campaign.
Further information on the Remembering Michael Sot HERO Walk can be found here.
