Published on December 04, 2019
GREELEY, Colo. (Weld County D.A.) – A Centennial man has been sentenced for causing a crash earlier this year that left a Colorado State Patrol trooper dead.
On March 13, Corporal Daniel Groves was assisting a stranded motorist on Interstate 76 just west of Roggen when he was hit and killed by 59-year-old John Carpenter.
“On that day, we lost a tremendous community asset,” Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wrenn said during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing. “We didn’t only lose one of the best in the law enforcement community, but his family lost their glue, as one of the family members put it.”
In October, Carpenter plead guilty to Failure to Exercise Due Care When Approaching a Stationary Vehicle Causing Death, a Class 6 Felony.
A Weld County district court judge Wednesday sentenced Carpenter to:
• 8.5 years of supervised probation • 850 hours of community service • 90 days in Weld County Jail
“After reading all the letters submitted on both the victim and the defendant, there’s no doubt that this defendant is a good man who made a poor choice to drive in those conditions the day of the crash,” Wrenn said. “However, I don’t believe the reality of what happened has set in for this defendant and that is troubling to me. This defendant said he did everything right the day of this crash. If he did everything right, Corporal Groves would still be with us, and his family, loved ones and colleagues would not have to be in this courtroom today. This was a crime that had a horrendous loss, and no sentence will ever bring this man back to his family.”