By Marcy Stamper
Gloria Mathyer of Twisp, who was convicted June 10 of vehicular homicide in Okanogan County Superior Court, is appealing the conviction to the Court of Appeals in Spokane.
The charges were filed in connection with a June 2014 accident on Highway 153 south of Twisp in which Mathyer’s car collided with a motorcycle. The motorcycle driver was killed and his passenger was injured.
Mathyer, age 53, was convicted in a jury trial on all three charges brought against her — vehicular homicide, vehicular assault (both felonies) and driving while a license was suspended (a misdemeanor). She entered a guilty plea on the license-suspension charge.
Mathyer was sentenced to the maximum standard time on each count and is serving 173 months (14 years, four months), the sentence for the vehicular homicide. She has been incarcerated since February of this year, according to court documents.
The jury found that, at the time of the accident, Mathyer had been operating a motor vehicle under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs, was operating the vehicle in a reckless manner, and had disregarded the safety of others, according to court documents.
According to court records and toxicology reports, Mathyer tested positive for ethanol, methamphetamine, morphine and opiates after the accident.
At trial, prosecutors presented Mathyer’s driving record, which included previous citations for reckless driving and speeding.
The vehicular-homicide charges, filed in March 2015, stemmed from an accident on June 7, 2014, in which Mathyer’s car collided with a motorcycle driven by James Stutzman, 56, of Arlington.
Stutzman and his passenger, Cynthia Stutzman, 60, also of Arlington, were thrown from the motorcycle. James died en route to the hospital. Cynthia suffered a fractured pubic bone and ribs.
Mathyer was driving southbound on Highway 153 about 7 miles south of Twisp, when her vehicle crossed the center line, according to the Washington State Patrol. Stutzman was traveling northbound. Both vehicles ended up off the roadway.
Mathyer suffered minor injuries in the accident.
