Plea agreement reached in vehicular manslaughter case
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ALTUS - An Altus woman has pleaded no contest and was found guilty of first degree manslaughter in the Aug. 12, 2005, traffic death of a 54-year-old Altus man and will spend a year in the Jackson County Jail, according to the plea agreement.

Lisa Dawn Franzone, 27, of 1015 N. Hudson, signed the agreement April 4 and was found guilty April 9 before District Judge Richard B. Darby.

The plea agreement sentences Franzone, who is being defended by attorney David Thomas, to 15 years in the state Department of Corrections, all suspended except for the first year in the local jail. The last six months of her incarceration is to entail long-term alcohol treatment. She will also serve two years of supervised probation after she is released.

Formal sentencing in the case is set for 9 a.m. June 5.

Franzone was charged in a drunken head-on collision that night of Aug. 12, a Friday, about two miles north of Altus on U.S. Highway 283 that claimed the life of Michael Don Thompson, of 1107 Loyadell. Thompson died at the scene of massive internal and external injuries.

According to an affidavit filed in District Court, Franzone, who was 26 at the time, was driving south on the highway in a 2004 Jeep Cherokee at about 7 p.m. when she swerved left of center and plowed head-on into a 1991 Ford F-150 pickup driven by Thompson.

Earlier reports by the Highway Patrol stated that the jeep overturned, coming to rest on its top and that Franzone was pinned inside her vehicle for 20 minutes before she was freed by the Altus Fire Department using the jaws of life. Thompson was also trapped for 35 minutes before being freed, also by the jaws of life.

Franzone was taken to Jackson County Memorial Hospital, where she was treated for numerous broken bones and possible internal injuries, then taken by helicopter to the Oklahoma University Medical Center in Oklahoma City.

While at JCMH, four vials of blood were collected from Franzone and examined by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. According to the affidavit, her blood alcohol content was .16, twice the legal limit.

 
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