The man convicted of seriously injuring three people in a 2016 hit-and-run accident in Franklin is asking to be released from prison early.
Will Slinger, 31, of Franklin, is set to be released from prison in August after serving about 18 months of a four-year sentence he received after pleading guilty to three counts of leaving the scene of an accident with serious bodily injury.
Slinger asked the court to release him as soon as possible — before August — so he can pursue further addiction treatment outside of prison. Slinger’s sentence had already been reduced after he completed the Purposeful Incarceration program in prison, a therapeutic community program for inmates with substance abuse issues.
Johnson Superior Court 3 Judge Lance Hamner said he would take the request under advisement, but also pointed out that Slinger’s addiction did not cause the accident that hurt three people; Slinger’s choice to get behind the wheel did.
“The damage you did to innocent people on the highway has nothing to do with addiction. It had to do with you getting behind the wheel of a car; that was a choice,” Hamner said.
Slinger was sentenced to prison after pleading guilty to the three felony counts after the hit-and-run wreck that seriously injured three people in January 2016.
Witnesses said Slinger’s vehicle was headed west on King Street and driving too fast when it hit a vehicle from behind driven by Grant Black, forcing Black’s vehicle into oncoming traffic and into the path of Mary Anne Litwicki and her husband Mitch Wolhmuth. Black had multiple injuries, including 16 fractured ribs, a broken fibula, a broken sternum and a shattered elbow. Wolhmuth was in a coma for more than a month and suffered a serious brain injury. Litwicki had a shattered wrist and compound fracture in her ankle and has since had at least two surgeries.
Slinger drove away from the accident, and was arrested months later after police sought the public’s help in finding the vehicle from the crash. A tip from the public after police released surveillance video led investigators to Slinger.
At his sentencing hearing last year, Prosecutor Brad Cooper called Slinger a menace to society, citing his previous conviction for operating while intoxicated causing death in a 2005 accident that killed April Mulry, a young mother. Cooper said it was unfortunate that the maximum prison sentence Slinger could receive under the law in the 2016 hit-and-run was four years.
In the hearing this week, Slinger told the court he realized through the prison program that he had a problem with addiction, which he didn’t think he had before. Realizing that he had a problem made him want to get help, which he wants to continue to pursue through an outpatient program, AA meetings and other support groups, he said.
He also plans to return to his job at a Franklin restaurant, move in with his parents and pursue further training at Ivy Tech, he said.
He also apologized for the hurt he had caused, and said the wreck that day was his fault.
“I didn’t think I’d hurt anybody else. I wasn’t really thinking,” Slinger said.
“I don’t want to hurt anybody else ever again.”
Hamner told Slinger he was troubled by his comments that he wanted to continue working on his addiction, because the accident had nothing to do with Slinger’s substance abuse issues.
“You made a choice to put people at risk because you didn’t care about them,” Hamner said.
“Even with your history, you didn’t care about them.”
In the hearing, Cooper asked why Slinger hadn’t made arrangements to be accepted into a treatment program after his release, and said setting that up ahead of time would be wise given Slinger’s history of addiction so he wouldn’t relapse after his release.
Cooper argued that Slinger should have all arrangements for treatment and aftercare in place before his release.
Slinger’s attorney, Mike Kyle, argued that Slinger had done everything the court had asked and had no issues in prison and asked that the court release him as soon as possible.
Slinger also plans to ask for a modification of his sentence to three-and-half years on probation after his release from prison, but has not made that request yet, Kyle said.
