A Mount Airy teen-ager who was convicted of auto manslaughter in the deaths of his sister and two other teen-agers in 1993 was sentenced to nine years in prison yesterday for repeatedly violating probation.
Donny E. Simms, 19, of the 6900 block of Runkles Road offered no reaction to the sentence of Carroll County Circuit Judge Francis M. Arnold as deputies led him from the courtroom.
Simms told Arnold that he did not attend counseling sessions and visit his parole officer regularly because he had no car and no job to buy one.
Court records show Simms was in court Aug. 2, 1995, Nov. 29, 1995, and Jan. 2, 1996, to face charges of violating probation.
In finding Simms guilty, Arnold said the defendant failed to pay monthly supervisory fees of $25, attend counseling and submit a term paper to the court on the effects of drugs.
Arnold told Simms that he had received big breaks since the accident and always returned with the excuse, "Somebody didn't do something for me."
"You have to accept the responsibility and fulfill the conditions to keep yourself out of jail," the judge said.
According to police reports and survivors of the fatal accident June 6, 1993, eight teen-agers -- brother and sister, cousins and best friends -- were cruising through Carroll County at speeds up to 110 mph in a stolen Toyota. They had been drinking much of the night and two state troopers had begun to follow them south on Liberty Road.
At 1: 51 a.m. the stolen car swerved and overturned near Oakland Mills Road.
Donna Simms, 14, Dink Diggs, 15, and Christopher Norris, 16, were dead, and the others suffered fractures and abrasions.
Simms, who did not have a driver's license, could barely walk when he was charged as an adult with auto theft, three counts of manslaughter, and drunken driving.
Court records show he pleaded guilty to the three manslaughter charges in April 1994 and received concurrent nine-year sentences with all but eight years suspended on each count.
In November 1995, court records show that Arnold ordered Simms to spend the holidays in the Carroll County Detention Center, but gave him another chance at freedom Jan. 2, provided he attended counseling, paid the fees and wrote the term paper.
Simms' attorney, Daniel Shemer, an assistant public defender, said his client has tried to find work, but never seemed to be the person hired for the jobs for which he applied. Yesterday, he asked that sentencing be deferred again, allowing Simms another chance to comply with the terms.
Simms received credit for 511 days served at the Carroll County Detention Center, home detention and at the Charles H. Hickey Jr. School near Towson.
Before yesterday's proceeding, Arnold acquitted Simms of marijuana charges stemming from a Nov. 5, 1995, incident.
Shemer won a motion to suppress the evidence against his client.
State troopers said they had found 8.9 grams of marijuana in Simms' left sock after searching him because they smelled marijuana on his breath and clothes.
Shemer said the search was illegal because the odor alone was not sufficient probable cause to make the search.
Pub Date: 10/17/96
