A South Carolina man who admitted to drinking eight beers before he drove a speedboat in a fatal wreck has been sentenced to 10 years in state prison.
Stan Kiser, the driver of the other boat, was killed after sustaining catastrophic injuries from the speedboat’s propeller. His wife, Shawn, had a leg amputated and his daughter, Morgan, suffered head injuries.
On Wednesday, a Richland County jury found Tracy Gordon guilty of reckless homicide. But the former manager at a Mars dog food factory, himself a father of two with two stepchildren, was acquitted of one count of felony boating under the influence leading to death and one count of the same charge leading to serious injury.
The sentencing comes four years to the day since Gordon’s Baja speedboat plowed into the side of a pontoon boat carrying three family members. Stan Kiser, the driver of the other boat, was killed after sustaining catastrophic injuries from the speedboat’s propeller. His wife, Shawn, had a leg amputated and his daughter, Morgan, suffered head injuries.
On the stand during his trial, Gordon described himself as a safe and experienced boater, who had been on the water since his stepfather began teaching him to drive a boat at 7 years old.
But on Sept. 21, 2019, he was more like an “unguided missile,” said 5th Circuit Deputy Solicitor Dan Goldberg, who prosecuted the case.
The jury reached their verdict after almost nine hours of deliberations.
Throughout the emotional trial, members of the Kiser family filled the upper gallery. Gordon’s wife, who was in the speedboat at the time of the crash, along with other supporters sat behind the defense table.
Sloan Kiser holds a photo of her father, Stan, during a sentencing hearing Thursday for Tracy Gordon, who was convicted of reckless homicide in the 2019 death of Stan Kiser in a boating accident on Lake Murray.
The trial has also been closely watched by advocates of tougher penalties for drunk drivers. Representatives of Mothers Against Drunk Driving and Boating Safety South Carolina have been present in the courtroom since the trial began last Monday.
During his closing arguments, Goldberg urged the jury to see the case not simply as an accident, but the result of a series of reckless decisions Gordon made the night of the crash.
“Am I going on the boat today? When do I crack open my first beer? Should I have another? Or another? Or another?” Goldberg asked the jury. “Every choice that we make has an end result. Every choice that we make has a consequence.
September 21, 2023 | State, The: Web Edition Articles (Columbia, SC)
Author/Byline: Ted Clifford, The State | Section: crime