Steven Boyd enters Clallam County Superior Court on Wednesday. He will be sentenced in July in connection with the death of a First Nations man from British Columbia. Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News

Steven Boyd enters Clallam County Superior Court on Wednesday. He will be sentenced in July in connection with the death of a First Nations man from British Columbia. Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News

Port Angeles man pleads guilty to vehicular homicide in death of B.C. man

PORT ANGELES — A man charged with vehicular homicide in the death of a First Nations man from British Columbia has pleaded guilty and will be sentenced in July.

Steven W. Boyd, 49, of Port Angeles pleaded guilty Wednesday to alcohol-related vehicular homicide and two counts of vehicular assault in connection with an early morning Aug. 25 collision that killed Ahousaht First Nation member Darrell Campbell, 49, of Ahousat, B.C., and seriously injured Campbell’s brother and niece.

Superior Court Judge Ken Williams set sentencing for 1 p.m. July 23 but denied Boyd’s request for a furlough.

ADVERTISEMENT
0 seconds of 0 secondsVolume 0%
Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts
00:00
00:00
00:00
 

Boyd wanted to spend time “getting his affairs in order” and visiting with his father, who has terminal cancer and is not expected to survive the approximately five-year prison term Boyd probably will receive, said Alex Stalker of Clallam Public Defender, who represents Boyd.

Boyd’s father was in the courtroom Wednesday.

In January, Boyd said he was considering accepting a plea offer that would have resulted in a five-year prison sentence but he changed his mind in February.

About 30 relatives of Darrell Campbell, his brother Angus Campbell, 57, who still walks with the aid of a cane, and niece Sophie Campbell, 18, who also was seriously injured, attended the hearing.

The morning of the wreck, which occurred on state Highway 112 near Place Road at about 8 a.m. that day in August, the family group was traveling to Neah Bay to attend the Makah Days festival.

The State Patrol said Boyd had a 0.12 percent blood-alcohol level from a blood sample taken 95 minutes after the wreck and a 0.079 percent level about two hours after the wreck.

The legal limit in Washington is 0.08 percent.

Family members are expected to speak at the sentencing, said Pat Johns of Neah Bay, who said he spoke for the Campbell family.

Family members were relieved that “the back and forth, back and forth” of the case was over, Johns said.

“Now that [Boyd] takes responsibility and pled guilty to [counts] one, two and three, this is closure to our family,” Johns said.

Johns said Campbell and Boyd family members had spoken since the wreck occurred.

Jerre Boyd, Steven Boyd’s father, patted Johns on the shoulder as members of both families filed out of the courtroom after Steven Boyd’s guilty plea.

Jerre Boyd would not comment on the case.

“I’m doing as good as I can, and that’s about it,” he said.

Johns said he and other family members probably would go to the crash site later Wednesday and “say a prayer-song for our loved one.”

Stalker said in January that he would challenge the blood-alcohol tests and that a new witness had come forward to testify.

According to the State Patrol report, a log-truck driver traveling on Highway 112 the morning of the collision said the sun was “extremely bright” at the time of the wreck.

“Mr. Boyd never really wanted to go through a trial and put everyone through that,” Stalker said after Wednesday’s hearing.

“That’s the nature of the case,” he said.

“They continually evolve.”

________

Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.

More in News

Fred Lundahl, a pilot from Whidbey Island, prepares to fuel up his 1968 Cessna Aerobat, named Scarlett, at the Jefferson County International Airport in Port Townsend. Lundahl was picking up his plane Wednesday from Tailspin Tommy’s Aircraft Repair facility located at the airport. (Steve Mullensky/for Peninsula Daily News)
Fueling up

Fred Lundahl, a pilot from Whidbey Island, prepares to fuel up his… Continue reading

After hours pet clinic set for Peninsula

Opening June 6 at Sequim location

Five to be honored with community service awards

Ceremony set Thursday at Port Angeles Senior Community Center

PASD planning for expanding needs

Special education, homelessness, new facilities under discussion

Clallam County Sheriff’s Office Animal Control Deputy Ed Bauck
Clallam Sheriff appoints animal control deputy

Position was vacant since end of 2024

Highway 104 road work to start week

Maintenance crews will repair road surfaces on state Highway… Continue reading

Supreme Court says no to recall reconsider

Sequim man found liable for legal fees

Chimacum Ridge seeks board members

Members to write policy, balance values, chair says

Fire destroys shop east of Port Angeles

A fire on Hickory Street east of Port Angeles… Continue reading

Jefferson Transit Authority to expand Kingston Express route

Jefferson Transit Authority has announced expanded service on its… Continue reading

From left to right, Northwest School of Wooden Boatbuilding students Krystol Pasecznyk and Scott McNair sand a Prothero Sloop with Sean Koomen, the school’s boat building program director. Koomen said the sanding would take one person a few days. He said the plan is to have 12 people sand it together, which will take a few hours. (Elijah Sussman/Peninsula Daily News)
Wooden boatbuilding school building ‘Twin Boats’

Students using traditional and cold-moulding construction techniques