A 32-year-old Renton man was sentenced Thursday to 4 1/2 years in prison on two counts of vehicular homicide for the deaths of two Des Moines women Aug. 24 in a three-car accident in Kent.
King County Superior Court Judge James Cayce sentenced Gregory Aurdell Ross at the Norm Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office. Ross received the maximum sentence under the state sentencing guidelines for vehicular homicide.
Ross pleaded guilty last month to the vehicular homicide charges. He initially entered a not guilty plea in September.
Ross was under the influence of methamphetamine and a prescription medication when he hit a car near the Panther Lake intersection of Southeast 208th Street and 108th Avenue Southeast.
The victims were Kiana Cormier, 24, and Jessica Stenseth, 23.
Ross was driving a 2001 Ford Explorer that ran a red light while southbound on 108th Avenue Southeast and crashed into a Kia sedan occupied by the two women at the intersection of Southeast 208th Street, according to court documents.
Ross told Kent Police that he was taking prescribed medication (trazodone, tegretol and carbamazepine) and had used methamphetamine, marijuana and alcohol in the previous few days. Police found a meth pipe in his car. The prescribed medications are commonly used to treat depression or seizure disorders.
The Kia was lawfully in the intersection, according to probable cause documents filed by the police.
The Kia veered away from the impact with the Ford Explorer and collided with an eastbound Mitsubishi sedan. All three cars came to rest alongside each other on the south side of the street.
Kent Police and firefighters arrived within minutes of the accident and worked quickly to extricate Cormier and Stenseth, the driver, from the Kia, which landed on its side. Both died at the scene.
A SeaTac man, who drove the Mitsubishi, was uninjured.
Ross failed field sobriety tests and kept falling asleep while police tried to interview him after the 8:46 p.m. crash, according to charging papers.
Ross has a criminal record that includes fourth-degree assault, harassment, third-degree theft and false reporting, according to court documents.
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