Tracy Oliver Pleads Guilty to Aggravated Vehicular Homicide in the Death of Kyrstin Sensabaugh and the injury of two others as the result of a rear-end crash in Lenoir City from November 2018
On
November 19, 2018, Tracy Lee Oliver (DOB 9/8/1972 of Greenback, TN)
was driving a 2000 Ford Excursion on Highway 321 in Lenoir City when
he plowed into the rear of a 2008 Mazda MZ6 that was a stopped at a
red-light. LCPD officers responded to the scene and discovered
Oliver standing, uninjured, outside of his vehicle. The three female
occupants of the Mazda were not. They were trapped in their crushed
vehicle and Kyrstin Sensabaugh (age 21) was critically injured and
transported to UT Medical Center where she succumbed to her
injuries, Makinli Hibbert (age 21 at the time) was seriously injured
and Caitlin Clement (19 at the time), who was the driver of the
Mazda, was also injured.
First responders acted to extricate the victims from the Mazda. Police officers interviewed and conducted field sobriety tests on Oliver. Alcohol consumption was suspected by the officers and a subsequent blood test showed his blood alcohol level to be 0.171 (0.08 is the presumptive level of intoxication in Tennessee). Officers discovered numerous empty cans of Miller Light and Coors Light along with suspected marijuana paraphernalia and edible products. Additional testing of Mr. Oliver’s blood sample contained: Phentermine 0.05 ug/ml, Citalopram 0.07 ug/ml, Delta9-THC 8ng/ml, THC-OH 6 ng/ml, THC-COOH 76 ng/ml.
In court on Friday the defendant, Tracy Oliver, stipulated as part of his plea that the deadly crash was proximately caused by his intoxication resulting in the death of Sensabaugh and the injuries to Hibbert and Clement. Assistant District Attorney General Joe Caldwell put on proof of Oliver’s two prior DUI convictions from 2007 and 2017 in Blount County.
Stephanie Sensabaugh, mother to Kyrstin, told the Court in her victim impact statement about arriving at the hospital to see her daughter who had no brain activity and the impact that losing her has had. Kyrstin was a graduate of Tennessee School of Beauty’s esthetician program and had plans to be a make-up artist, according to her mom. She also wanted to get married and have children. The family has even had to move from their house because of the so many memories of their daughter in the house made life there without Kyrstin unbearable.
She also read a statement from Makinli wherein Makinli described that she could never approach a stop light without first flinching and having panic attacks at red lights on sudden stops and how this was caused by the actions of a man she still does not really know. Caitlin, like Makinli and other family and friends, has expressed her still lingering grief over the loss of her friend and that horror of that tragic event.
Tracy Oliver did not make a statement.
After hearing the victim impact statements and argument from ADA Caldwell for the Court to approve and render the 18 year prison sentence, the defendant was sentenced by Loudon County Criminal Court Judge Jeff Wicks to 18 years to serve in prison for convictions on Aggravated Vehicular Homicide by Intoxication a Class A felony and Vehicular Assault a Class D felony and Reckless Endangerment with a Weapon (the vehicle) a Class E felony.
Under current Tennessee sentencing law, TDOC determination of parole eligibility (which policies that include day for day credits for ‘good time’, credits for enrolling in classes and programs while in TDOC custody, as well as other factors TDOC considers to reduce incarceration time) the actual time that persons charged and sentenced with the same sentence as Oliver are only likely to spend 30% or less of the sentence in prison. It is this disparity between the actual time sentenced versus the actual time served that District Attorney General Russell Johnson and the other 30 District Attorney Generals in Tennessee are trying to address with Truth in Sentencing legislation so that victims, victims’ family members and the public at large will know what period of time criminals who have violated their lives and property will be spending in jail. The DAGs hear TDOC, the Administration and the Legislature when they say there is not enough revenue to keep criminals in jails or prisons any longer due to the expense of incarcerating criminals for committing crimes. The DA’s Conference just wants a sentencing law that accurately reflects the truth of the length of the sentence served.
In this case, Oliver remains out of jail on bond with bond conditions requiring that he continue to wear an ankle monitor until he reports to the Loudon County Jail on January 25, 2021 to begin serving his 18 year sentence.