Judge Is Expected to Sentence Rausch Today

A Superior Court judge is expected today to take the rare step of tossing out a presentencing report in the case of a former Newport Harbor High School student convicted of manslaughter in a crash that claimed the life of one of his classmates and seriously injured two others.

Following a two-day courtroom debate over the report prepared by the Orange County Probation Department, Superior Court Judge Everett Dickey, who was highly critical throughout the proceedings, said late Monday that he would pronounce his sentence this morning.

Although judges normally follow the recommendations of the Probation Department, Dickey signaled that he did not have confidence in the report.

The report recommended that Jason Rausch, 19, serve a year in jail, as well as three years of formal probation for his conviction on a charge of vehicular manslaughter--originally a felony charge that Dickey reduced to a misdemeanor.

The report was assailed by Rausch’s attorney Jennifer Keller on Monday as a “hatchet job” that included information only from police reports unfavorable to her client and omitted facts that lessen his culpability in the May 23 crash.

As the designated driver for a group of partying high school students, Rausch was behind the wheel of a friend’s 1989 Chevrolet Blazer when the vehicle flipped and crashed on a hilly road.

Eighteen-year-old Donny Bridgman, the owner of the Blazer, was killed, and two other students were left with serious and possibly permanent brain injuries. One of the injured teens, Amanda Arthur, was in a coma for nearly three months but eventually came out of it and now undergoes daily physical therapy. Another victim, Danny Townsend, is still recovering from a brain injury that affects his motor skills and has left him unable to drive.

Dickey said he was “bothered quite a bit” that the report was not based on any of the testimony from Rausch’s preliminary hearing or his trial, where some of the more damaging information about allegedly reckless driving and negligent behavior on his part was disputed.

The judge also was concerned that Deputy Probation Officer Susan Nash, who prepared the report, scanned newspaper articles about the accident provided to her by the mother of victim Donny Bridgman, and did not seem to know whether doing so was within the rules.

During aggressive questioning by Keller, Nash said that during her interview with Rausch, the teenager acknowledged the effect the accident has had on Bridgman’s family, expressed sorrow and sadness over the injuries suffered by Arthur and Townsend, and said he wishes he could change it.

Outside court, Bruce and Vickie Bridgman talked about their never-ending grief over the death of their son and also expressed frustration with Rausch and the judge.

“Our life is ruined,” a tearful Vickie Bridgman said. “It’s been horrendous. There’s no closure. We get out of bed in the morning and we try to do the best we can. It’s not survival, it’s existence.

“There’s no doubt the judge has made some grave errors in the case and there is never going to be any justice,” she added.

The mother said that Rausch “doesn’t live with the fact that he killed someone. I’m the one who has to live with that fact. He has never admitted his mistakes. He has never admitted what he’s done.”

Said Bruce Bridgman: “What happens is the victims get lost in these cases, and it becomes about the defendant.”

Diana Townsend, mother of the injured Danny Townsend, said that while she feels badly for Rausch, she believes that a jail sentence is appropriate.

“When you’ve taken the life of a beautiful student and child and injured two others who may never be the same, there’s got to be some kind of justice,” Townsend said.

But Rausch’s family friend, Carolyn Blevins, defended him outside court, saying that the teenager and his mother did go to the Bridgman family after the accident to “repent.”

“They went to the home and they were welcomed in,” Blevins said. “He is living in his own hell. He didn’t go out purposely and say, ‘I’m going to kill kids tonight.’ My prayers go out to him.”