Huddleston woman gets seven years in Campbell County deputy death case

By Chris Dumond

Published: March 28, 2008

BEDFORD — Nearly a year had passed, but on Friday, the mother of a slain Campbell County deputy got closure.

Heather Lyn Bush, 27, of Huddleston pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and felony eluding police in connection with an April 3, 2007, police chase in which Deputy Jason Lee Saunders lost control of his cruiser and died when his car hit a tree.

Bush was sentenced to seven years in prison.

“They couldn’t give her enough years to justify my son’s life,” Peggy Saunders said. “I’m thankful for what we did get because I know it could have gone the other way and we wouldn’t have gotten
anything.

“My concern is that she stays off the roads for a long time. That way no one else will get hurt.

“I’m glad it’s over. We needed it to be over.”

According to police, Campbell County deputies approached Bush’s vehicle while it was parked at a pizza restaurant in Yellow Branch. Krantz told the court that Bush and a passenger had been in the
Lynchburg area buying crack cocaine that day. The prosecutor said Bush gave police a fake name and that she sped away toward Bedford County when deputies confronted her about it.

Deputy Saunders, part of the pursuit on Johnson Mountain Road, crashed near the intersection of Orrix Creek Road.

He had worked for the sheriff’s office for three years when he died. The Altavista-area native was 24.

Bush had been charged with second-degree felony murder in the deputy’s death. Virginia law allows a person to be charged with murder if someone dies in connection with that person committing a felony.

The charge was reduced to involuntary manslaughter Friday because of two state court rulings in similar cases where the police car did not come into contact with the defendant’s vehicle, Krantz said.

In Powhatan County, a judge threw out the felony murder charge because Virginia law requires a causal connection between the defendant’s felony and the victim’s death. In that case, the lack of contact between the vehicles did not meet that requirement, the judge ruled.

In Chesterfield County, the defendant was acquitted of murder, but found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Krantz said the plea agreement was worked out in his office’s interest in getting a conviction and in Bush’s interest in a sentence shorter than what she may have been given had the case gone to trial.

“We were ready, willing and able to argue this case, but even if we won, it’s likely that there would have been protracted appeals and litigation,” he said. “The family wasn’t interested in going through that. They wanted a conclusion.”

The prosecutor said both the Saunders family and the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office supported the plea agreement.

Campbell County Sheriff Terry Gaddy said Friday’s plea hearing should send a message that running from police isn’t entertaining television or a video game, that people can get hurt or killed.

“It was important to us that this will set a precedent now in Central Virginia,” Gaddy said. “We’re hoping we can make further changes in the Code of Virginia to specifically say that if you do something feloniously while we’re trying to apprehend you that’s the direct cause of the death of a law enforcement officer, that they be held more responsible.”

Krantz said an aggravated manslaughter law with increased penalties similar to what is allowed for when someone is killed in a drunk driving wreck would be
appropriate.

The commonwealth’s attorney, as part of Friday’s plea agreement, dropped a third charge of conspiracy to possess cocaine with intent to
distribute.

Krantz said Bush fled last April because she was on probation in Chesterfield County.

The Chesterfield County Clerk of Courts office refused to disclose the crime for which she was on probation over the phone Friday and Krantz said in court only that it involved hurting a police officer in another escape attempt.

He said Bush could be sentenced to an additional 10 years if she’s convicted of violating probation there. Her conviction here will likely increase the length of her sentence there, he said.

She is scheduled to appear in court in Chesterfield County on April 24.