On July 8, 2009, Adam L. Steinmann, 27, was hauling a 42,000 pound bulldozer on a flatbed truck along Highway D near Sneak road in St. Charles, Missouri.
The bulldozer Steinmann was hauling shifted and fell off of the truck as Steinmann took a curve. The bulldozer bounced and landed on a Mercury Grand Marquis driven by sixty-three-year-old Judith Ulery. Her mother, 86-year-old Elsie Sherman, was a passenger in the car.
Both mother and daughter later died as a result of their injuries.
In August, a jury found guilty of two counts of involuntary manslaughter and a misdemeanor count of driving with a suspended license.
On Tuesday, October 30, 2012, Circuit Judge Lucy Rauch sentenced Steinmann to the maximum sentence of eight years of prison– four years for each count of involuntary manslaughter. In addition, Steinmann was also fined $300.
“A civil suit filed by relatives of the women against Steinmann and his company and Lamke Trenching & Excavating was settled this month for $345,000, according to court records,” The St. Louis Dispatch reported.
At sentencing, Steinmann addressed the court and the family.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think about these ladies,” he said. “It was never my intention to hurt anybody. I really didn’t think it was dangerous at the time. I was wrong.”
Joel Eisenstein, Steinmann’s attorney, said he plans to appeal the conviction.