Superior Court Judge Brenda Weaver specifically explained how she was bound by the jury’s verdict and the law prior to sentencing Eddie Allen Sosebee in connection with the death of Clifton Ray Deal the day after Christmas in 2018.
Weaver, chief judge of the Appalachian Judicial Circuit, sentenced Sosebee Friday afternoon, October 8, following his trail in Fannin County Superior Court.
Jury members, who heard some three days of testimony, found Sosebee guilty of distracted driving, disobeying a traffic control device and speeding, all misdemeanors. The jury failed to find guilt on the more serious charges of reckless driving, felony homicide by vehicle and misdemeanor homicide by vehicle.
On the charge of distracted driving, Weaver sentenced Sosebee to a fine and fees totaling a little over $1,300 (one minimal fee amount was to be determined after court adjourned) and 12 months probation with general conditions of probation.
On the conviction of disobeying a traffic control device, Sosebee received 12 months probation to run consecutively with the first charge.
For the speeding conviction, Sosebee received an additional 12 months probation to be served concurrently with the first charge, resulting in a total of 24 months on probation.
There was also discussion about possible restitution due the victim’s family, but it was revealed a civil lawsuit has been settled, so no decision was handed down in court.
Sosebee, 56, of 4500 State Highway 339 in Young Harris, at the time he was arrested, was accused in warrants taken by the Georgia State Patrol of driving 75 in a 55 mph speed zone when he ran the red light at the intersection of Georgia highways 2 and 60, commonly known as the Lakewood intersection on Highway 515. Sosebee was traveling west toward Blue Ridge when the Ford Transit T-250 van he was driving struck Deal’s S-10 Chevrolet pickup in the left side, sending it across the concrete median where it struck a third vehicle sitting in the turning lane.
Deal was traveling south on Highway 60, attempting to cross Highway 2 (Highway 515) at the time of the 9:19 a.m. crash December 26.
Sosebee was arrested April 26, 2019, on charges of one felony, first degree homicide be vehicle, and three misdemeanors, speeding, failure to obey traffic devices or police, and reckless driving.
The arrest followed an investigation by the state patrol’s Specialized Collision Reconstruction Team.
Prior to Sosebee’s sentencing, Deal’s three children offered impassioned victim impact statements to the court.
His daughter, Angela Suit, told how Deal “was the best Daddy in the world...He didn’t deserve to die this way.” She asked for justice for Sosebee, “A long time in prison.”
Another daughter, Lora Eisenhart, told how Deal “always helped me.” She talked in detail of the horror of seeing Deal’s vehicle after the crash and the emotional pain his death inflicted.
Deal’s son, Junior, talked of his father’s impact on his life and how, through Sosebee’s “careless act, I lost my hero.”
Sosebee also addressed the family and the court, saying, “I am very sorry.” He said he has no memory of what happened, but it is “extremely hard living with this thing every day. I wouldn’t wish this on anybody.”
Weaver prefaced her sentencing of Sosebee, saying “my heart goes out to both families.”