Third Judicial District Criminal Court Judge John F. Dugger Jr. has rejected a plea agreement in a vehicular homicide case after the victim's family objected to the proposed sentence.

The judge acted Friday afternoon after Vonda Robinette, widow of the late John Robinette, told the court that the Robinette family believes the eight-year sentence proposed in the agreement that had been reached between defense attorney Lewis Ricker and the Third Judicial District Attorney General's office would be too lenient for defendant Todd A. Mathes, 36, of 1520 Nolichuckey Road.

In addressing the court, Mrs. Robinette explained that her late husband had been fatally injured during the early morning hours of Dec. 23, 2007, while delivering the Knoxville News-Sentinel newspaper along Baileyton Road.

"I don't think they're giving him enough time," Mrs. Robinette said. "I told them [the District Attorney's office] that I wanted him [Mathes] to have a jury trial."

She also said she had argued against the plea agreement with District Attorney General Berkeley Bell "for 45 minutes" on the telephone.

After Judge Dugger told Mrs. Robinette that it was possible Mathes could receive an even lower sentence as a result of a jury trial, she replied: "I don't think there is a jury in Greene County that would find that man not guilty, or a judge that would give him eight years."

Judge Dugger replied that judges must follow sentencing guidelines.

"There are strict guidelines that judges must follow," Dugger said.

"It's not like 30 or 40 years ago. You can't just throw the book at them and give them the maximum. If you do, it can be reversed [on appeal]."

He explained that judges must weigh what are called "mitigating" and "enhancing" factors in arriving at a sentence for a person convicted of a crime.

The judge pointed out that the sentencing range in vehicular homicide cases for so-called "standard offenders" is eight to 12 years imprisonment, with the offender becoming eligible for release on parole after he completes 30 percent of his sentence.

Both the defense lawyer and the prosecuting attorneys say this is the category of offender into which Mathes falls.

Mrs. Robinette said that, if Mathes receives an eight-year sentence, he will be eligible for release on parole in about two years.

She said that, if Mathes is released soon, nothing would prevent him from repeating the behavior that allegedly led to her husband's death.

"The next time he may hit some poor woman with five or six kids and kill them all," she said.

"This was my husband," Mrs. Robinette stated to the court. "He had just dropped [delivered] his last paper. He was coming home.

"That's when this happened. He was turning [onto the West Andrew Johnson Highway access ramp from Baileyton Road] to come home [when the fatal collision took place]."

She noted that on "any other day of the week" she would have been driving the vehicle that her late husband was driving at the time of his death.

Judge Dugger asked Mrs. Robinette if she had consulted with a private attorney about the "strengths and weaknesses" of the case. She replied that she had consulted with Greeneville attorney John K. Milburn Rogers.

The judge said it would have been helpful if attorney Rogers had been present in court on Friday.

"I want to make sure that you are thoroughly informed," Judge Dugger said. "I hope you are communicating with Mr. Rogers, your private attorney."

The judge also said that he felt it was important that the Robinette family maintain communication with the District Attorney's office.

"I just want to make sure that you are aware of all the things that could happen," the judge said to Mrs. Robinette.

Mathes has not been indicted by a Greene County grand jury on the charges of vehicular homicide by intoxication, theft over $1000, evading arrest, and theft under $500 that the plea agreement covered.

On Friday, the judge noted from the bench, the District Attorney's office and defense attorney Ricker had planned to waive indictments and ask that Mathes be allowed to enter guilty pleas by "information" in lieu of indictments.

But Assistant District Attorney General Cecil Mills told the court on Friday afternoon that the District Attorney's office plans to appeal the judge's ruling rejecting the plea agreement.

"I am not going to accept this guilty plea today," the judge said after hearing Mrs. Robinette speak.

He stated that the case of State v. Hines says a judge may reject a plea if he decides guilt should be decided by a jury.

"This case is not indicted by the grand jury," he said, noting that his jurisdiction begins with an indictment.

After rejecting the plea agreement, Judge Dugger told Mathes and his defense attorney that the next grand jury session is set for Nov. 26, and indicated that Mathes should plan to return to court that day in case his case is submitted to the grand jury.

A number of other Robinette family members were seated in the audience as Mrs. Robinette addressed the court.

An arrest warrant filed in March by Tennessee Highway Patrol Trooper Eric Wise charged Mathes in connection with the Dec. 23, 2007, death of John Robinette, 65, of Mosheim, during a Sheriff's Department pursuit of a vehicle driven by Mathes.

"On Dec. 23, 2007, at approximately 5 a.m., a 1999 Nissan Pathfinder driven by Todd Mathes struck a passenger vehicle driven by Robinette, causing Mr. Robinette's death," Trooper Wise wrote in March.

Trooper Wise said in March that a blood test performed after the accident showed Mathes was intoxicated at the time of the collision.

"A blood test was done to determine the drug and alcohol content of his blood," Trooper Wise said. "His blood alcohol content came back at .14." That blood-alcohol level is nearly twice the legal limit of .08 under Tennessee law.

The fatal accident occurred at the end of a pursuit along Baileyton Road (Tennessee Highway 172) that began in Baileyton in the early morning hours of Dec. 23, 2007.

Deputy Sheriff Jeff Caudill said at the wreck scene that morning that he had begun pursuing the white Nissan Pathfinder from Baileyton after seeing it cross the Interstate 81 bridge on Baileyton Road at a high rate of speed.

Deputy Caudill said that during the pursuit, which ended in the fatal collision in Greeneville, the fleeing SUV avoided two attempts by law-enforcement officers to stop it by flattening its tires with the use of "spike strips" on the road.

Caudill said that he did not actually see the collision between the fleeing Nissan Pathfinder and the Ford Taurus sedan because a Greeneville Police Department vehicle was in front of his patrol car at the time the crash took place.

But he said the fleeing SUV was apparently driving in the left lane of two-lane Baileyton Road at the time it broad-sided the green sedan, which may have been attempting to turn onto the West Andrew Johnson Highway access ramp.

The collision sent the green sedan into a grassy area off the left side of Baileyton Road near the access ramp.

The white Nissan Pathfinder went off the right side of Baileyton Road and came to rest against an embankment.

While following the vehicle, Deputy Caudill said, he noticed that its rear license plate was obscured, and he learned via radio that the vehicle's occupants were believed to have been involved in either a robbery or a theft of merchandise at a Baileyton convenience store.

Deputy Sheriff Howard Gale, who was serving as dispatcher at Sheriff's Department headquarters, said he received a call from the BP Market on Van Hill Road in Baileyton which indicated that a male suspect had left the store without paying for a 12-pack of beer and had fled in a white sport-utility vehicle.

The Nissan Pathfinder SUV, Deputy Gale said, was determined, after the fatal crash, to be a vehicle that had been reported taken without permission from a Nolichuckey Road residence shortly before 3 a.m. Sunday.

Mathes remains free on bond pending further court action.