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Teen gets prison term in crash
His best friend was killed in drag race on Fairfax County road

August 20, 2006
FAIRFAX -- A teenager will serve 11 months in prison for his role in the death of his best friend while drag racing.

John M. Wilcox acknowledged that he was drag racing a 1989 Ford Mustang on March 22, 2005, when he slammed into the back of a dump truck on a Fairfax County road.

Adam M. Foote, 17, who was in the vehicle's front passenger seat, died nine hours later of his injuries.

Wilcox, 17 at the time of the crash, and the driver of the other vehicle were not seriously hurt. All three young men were students at West Springfield High School in Springfield.

On Aug. 11, Fairfax Circuit Court Judge Robert W. Wooldridge Jr. sentenced Wilcox to 10 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter, then suspended all but 11 months of the term. He also placed Wilcox on 10 years probation and ordered him to perform 1,600 hours of community service during the first five years of his sentence.

Wilcox is also subject to random drug tests throughout his probationary period. Wooldridge reserved the right to impose the full 10-year prison sentence if Wilcox violates the terms of his probation.

During a police investigation into the crash, Wilcox twice sold marijuana to an undercover Fairfax County police officer and admitted to the officer that he had been racing the Mustang, The Washington Post reported yesterday.

Wilcox's parents enrolled him in a treatment center for troubled youth in Alabama, the Post reported, prompting Fairfax authorities to seek his extradition. Last November, Wilcox returned to Virginia and surrendered to authorities. He was certified to stand trial as an adult.

In June, Wilcox and his defense attorney, Rodney G. Leffler, signed a plea bargain in which prosecutors agreed to drop the drug charges in exchange for a guilty plea to the manslaughter charge. Wilcox was held without bail after acceptance of his guilty plea on June 21.

"I was surprised that the jail sentence was so light, but I support the judge's imposing of a 10-year probation and its terms," Foote's mother, Jennifer Young-Foote, told The Post. She said Wilcox had not apologized to her.

Efforts to reach Leffler on Friday were not successful.

 

 

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