POINT PLEASANT — A Leon man will spend at least two years in jail after he pleaded guilty to two counts of driving under the influence causing death.

On Friday, Judge Thomas C. Evans sentenced Timothy Allen McCormick to one year in the Western Regional Jail in Barboursville for each count of DUI causing death and to pay $1,000 in fines. The jail sentences are to be served concurrently.

McCormick was to face trial earlier this week, but his attorney could not locate their expert witness. Later, defense attorney James Casey and prosecuting attorney Damon Morgan announced they had a plea agreement.

On March 15, 2007, while driving his 1990 Oldsmobile Cutlass Cierra north on W.Va. 2, McCormick allegedly struck a 2003 Honda ATV near Rayburn Road, killing Kimberly Plants Cottrill and Charles Green.

Last September, McCormick entered a plea agreement and agreed to plea guilty to one misdemeanor charge of DUI causing death for one of the victims but not the other. During his sentencing in November, Evans set aside the plea agreement and ordered the defendant to stand trial, stating that justice was not being served.

Before being sentenced, McCormick told the court that he saw the ATV that night but it did not have its lights on. When he struck the four-wheeler, he said he did not know that there were people on it or that they had died until he was in the Western Regional Jail.

He admitted to being under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident.

Afterward, Evans said he was accepting his plea for the two misdemeanor charges and dismissing the felony charges. McCormick then apologized to the families of the victims and told them he had been saved and that he loved them.

But family members of the victims were not as forgiving and told the court they were prepared for a jury trial even if the jury came back and found him not guilty.

“This act was irresponsible and careless,” one member said. “Anyone who is under the influence should not be driving.”

Although they all agreed that McCormick serving any type of sentence would not bring their loved ones back, they still did not agree with the plea agreement.

“The problem with drunk driving in West Virginia is that it has gone on for a long time,” Evans said. “But the legislature continues to make new laws on drunk driving and have made a significant stride in them. We have to deal with the laws as they are because we are bound by the law.

“This was just a horrible situation,” he added.

Before McCormick was sentenced, Evans conducted a bond revocation hearing for Daniel Hall of Point Pleasant.

Hall was arrested earlier this month after Morgan submitted a motion to have his bail revoked for violation of its terms. In March, he was to go to trial for sexual crimes when it was discovered that threatening letters had been sent to potential jurors of the jury pool.

Hall was indicted by the May 2007 grand jury on two counts of first-degree sexual assault, two counts of incest and two counts of sexual abuse by a custodian.

Prior to the trial’s beginning, letters allegedly were sent to potential jurors by a supporter of the defendant and was made to look as if it had come from a family member of the victim. The names of the potential jury members were on a list that was sent to the prosecuting attorney and the defense attorney.

At the time, Evans said he viewed a copy of the letter and said that what he read was inflammatory and was more than a veiled threat.

After hearing from witnesses, Evans concluded that Hall and those close to him who testified where involved in the letter incident and found that he had violated the terms of his bond and revoked it. Hall’s attorney, Lee Benford, asked that Hall be placed on home confinement, which was denied.

Hall will appear before Evans May 11 for pretrial motions.