Published: September 09, 2008 11:10 am      

Charges filed in fatal Fulton County auto accident

Move comes on same day as protest by victim’s mother

ROCHESTER — Fulton County Prosecutor Richard Brown filed charges on Monday against the 17-year-old driver in a May 31 crash that claimed the life of an 18-year-old.

The case against Seth A. Mathias will start in juvenile court, but Brown said Monday he would seek a waiver to try Mathias as an adult.

If the waiver is granted, Mathias will face a class C felony charge of operating while intoxicated resulting in death and a class D felony charge of operating while intoxicated resulting in serious bodily injury. Class C felonies carry possible jail sentences of 2 to 8 years, while class D felonies carry punishments between six months and three years in prison.

Brown filed the charges on the same day the victim’s mother staged a protest outside the Fulton County Courthouse. Logansport resident Tonya Keller-Martinez claimed Brown had been stalling in pressing charges in the wreck that killed her 18-year-old son, Brandon Keller.

The wreck happened at 4:22 p.m. May 31 at Ind. 19 and Division Road.

According to police reports, a vehicle driven by Mathias failed to yield the right of way to a car driven by 33-year-old Timothy J. Richey of Huntington.

All five passengers in the Mathias vehicle were taken to the hospital with serious injuries. Mathias and three additional passengers survived, but Brandon was pronounced dead three days after the accident.

An Indiana State Police case report released July 28 showed that Mathias was under the influence of marijuana and Benzedrine at the time of the wreck, Brown said, but it would take another six weeks for the prosecutor to gather enough evidence to file the case. The delay was made longer, Brown said, when a family situation caused him to take three weeks of personal leave.

On Monday, Brandon’s mother stood outside the courthouse with her five-year-old son, Mario Martinez, displaying signs that read “Mr. Brown, why won’t you do your job?” and “Drugged driving killed my big brother.”

Brown, though, said the protest had “no impact” on the timing of the charges. He said he filed the case as soon as he and the incident’s investigator felt confident in the evidence.

Keller-Martinez had been in contact with Brown over the course of the summer, and in a phone interview on Thursday, she said she felt as though her protest helped to speed up the process.

“He would have still ignored me,” she said. “Three months have gone by, and this boy is still walking around. I’m just looking for Brown to enforce it, get off his butt and do his job.”

Keller-Martinez said Mathias called to tell her he was sorry, but it wasn’t enough.

“I can’t sleep until I accomplish this,” she said. “I’ve been waiting patiently for three months. He has no idea what this has done to our family.”

Brown said he understood Tonya’s frustrations.

“Her son was killed,” he said. “She’s got every right to expect whatever she wants to expect. But we have to do the things we have to do in the process.”

Brown said a trial was likely at least two months away. The case will first have to go through an initial juvenile hearing, followed by a hearing on whether to treat Mathias as an adult.

Keller-Martinez said she planned to continue her campaign for justice by writing letters to public officials and the news media.

“The more people that know, the more people respond,” she said. “This isn’t just about my son. It could be your kid next time.”