Sentencing options for Ronald J. Wendt

When 25-year-old Ronald J. Wendt, convicted Monday of aggravated vehicular homicide and 10 other charges, is sentenced Nov. 15, Genesee County Judge Robert C. Noonan will have a range of sentencing options.

Under statute, each felony and misdemeanor carries its own sentencing guidelines, but all of the sentences will likely be served concurrently.

Here are the charges and sentencing options:

1. Driving While Intoxicated as a misdemeanor: 1 year maximum;
2. Driving While Intoxicated, per se, as a misdemeanor (i.e., driving with a BAC of .08 or greater): 1 year maximum;
3. Vehicular Manslaughter, 2nd, a Class D felony: 1 to 3 years, minimum; 2 1/3 to 7 maximum;
4. Aggravated Vehicular Homicide, a Class B felony (referred to as the "top count"): 1 to 3 minimum, 8 1/3 to 25 years maximum;
5. Manslaughter, 2nd, a Class C felony: 1 to 3 minimum, 5 to 15 maximum;
6. Vehicular assault, 2nd, a Class E felony: 1 to 3 minimum, 1 1/3 to 4 years maximum;
7. Aggravated Vehicular Assault, a Class C felony: 1 to 3 minimum, 5 to 15 maximum;
8. Assault, 2nd, a Class D felony: Minimum 2 years, maximum 7 years;
9. Vehicular Assault, 2nd, a Class E felony: 1 to 3 minimum, 1 1/3 to 4 years maximum;
10. Assault, 2nd, a Class D felony: Minimum 2 years, maximum 7 years;
11. Assault, 3rd, a misdemeanor: 1 year maximum.

On a count like aggravated vehicular manslaughter, Noonan could pick the one to three range, and it would mean Wendt would be eligible for parole after one year. If Noonan gave Wendt the maximum under that charge, Wendt would be eligible for parole after eight-and-one-third years. He couldn't serve more than 25 years.

Noonan could also set a range within the minimum and maximum.

Given that Count #8 and Count #10 carry minimum two year sentences, Wendt would have to serve at least two years in prison, even if Noonan picked a lower range on the higher class felonies.

Some key cases that have come before Noonan for sentencing in the past year:

• Scott F. Doll, convicted of beating to death Joseph Benaquist: Doll received 15 years to life. Noonan could have sent Doll to jail for 25 years to life, but said it didn't seem right to lock Doll up for the rest of his life when younger men convicted of the same crime would be getting out of jail in their 50s.
• Thomas Wallace, who admitted to watching porn while driving his truck just as he plowed into a disabled car on the Thruway, killing an Amherst mother, received a three to nine year prison term.
• Dennis M. Abrams, the mastermind of robbing an M&T Bank branch in Elba, where he and his accomplices terrorized the tellers, received a 13 1/2 year sentence.