Man pleads guilty in fatal car accident

ANGLETON — When Adrienne Long and Stacey Dayton visit their father for Father’s Day this weekend, they won’t go to his home and feel his arms around their neck.

“I have to go to the cemetery to see mine,” Long said.

But the man who pleaded guilty Monday to driving drunk and killing her father in a wreck will get to spend time with his father, Dayton said.

“We’re constantly having to deal with this,” Dayton said. “I’m still angry for what Alex Schindler did.”

Schindler, 20, of League City, pleaded guilty Monday to intoxicated manslaughter in exchange for a 180-day jail term and 10 years probation. He could have received up to 20 years in prison if convicted by a jury.

Schindler is accused of driving north on FM 2004 in the wrong lane near the Galveston County line with a 0.10 blood-alcohol level May 3, 2008, and hitting head-on a 1994 Chevrolet truck driven south by Calvin Long, 53, of Lake Jackson. Calvin Long died at the scene.

After a bout of prostate cancer, Calvin Long had learned two months before the accident that he was cancer free, Adrienne Long said.

Police found a case of beer and an ice chest with beer inside the cab of Schindler’s truck. EMS personnel also told police Schindler told them he had been at a party before the accident.

It took several months for Schindler to recover from injuries he received in the accident, his attorney Tad Nelson said.

“He’s in a lot of pain, and he feels guilty for what he did,” Nelson said.

During Monday’s hearing, Schindler read a statement and apologized to Calvin Long’s daughters for what he did, Nelson said.

Schindler has wanted to speak with Long’s family since the day of the accident, but Nelson said he wouldn’t allow his client to do that.

“He’s written boxes of letters we have stored,” Nelson said.

Adrienne Long said she has sought counseling and hopes someday she can believe Schindler’s statement.

“I like that he did actually apologize,” she said. “It really choked me up.”

Most often in plea deals, Brazoria County District Attorney Jeri Yenne seeks prior approval from victims or their family members. Calvin Long’s family had a different role in this plea deal, she said.

“They had suggested it,” Yenne said.

Schindler also must wear an alcohol monitor for a year, receive inpatient substance abuse therapy and carry Calvin Long’s picture with him. He must be able to show the picture to a probation officer when asked.

“There’s some stringent conditions,” Yenne said. “But this gives him an opportunity to change.”

If he violates the probation, Schindler could serve 10 years in prison, she said.

The punishment is a good way of making sure Schindler does some time in jail but that he also receives help, Long’s daughters said.

Though his client will get out of jail in six months and he will be free on probation, he always will be haunted by the wreck, Nelson said.

Adrienne Long said the plea deal might prevent the same thing from happening in the future.

“At the end of the day, that’s what I want,” she said.

The (Brazosport) Facts is a sister paper of The Daily News.