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Family of ASU Triathlete Killed by Fentanyl-Impaired Driver Calls 10-Year Plea Deal 'Pathetic'
The parents of 26-year-old Hannah Henry, a two-time NCAA champion, are urging a judge to reject a plea agreement that would sentence Eric Hodge to 10 years for manslaughter and leaving the scene of the crash that killed her.
PHOENIX â The family of Hannah Henry, a 26-year-old former Arizona State University triathlete and two-time NCAA national champion, is speaking out against a proposed plea agreement that would send the man who killed her to prison for 10 years, calling the recommendation "pathetic" as a judge prepares to decide whether to accept it.
Eric Hodge pleaded guilty to manslaughter and leaving the scene of a fatal accident after he struck Henry with his vehicle while she was training on her bicycle in February. According to investigators, Hodge was high on fentanyl when he fell asleep at the wheel and veered into the bike lane on Central Avenue around 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 8. Police say he hit Henry and then drove away, leaving her behind.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, prosecutors are recommending a 10-year prison sentence. A judge is scheduled to decide Tuesday whether to accept or reject that recommendation. Henry's family plans to attend the sentencing and deliver a statement directly to Hodge.
"Ten years for killing a young woman who's just starting her life? She was only 26, just bought a condo," said Della Doore, Henry's mother. "She had goals. She had dreams, and I don't get to see that. We don't get to see her get married. We don't get to see her have babies."
Henry, a middle child, was remembered by her family as humble and quiet but with a funny, silly side â someone who made everyone around her feel important. "She loved everybody and everybody that knew her felt special," Doore said.
Her parents, Sean Henry and Doore, said Hannah never used drugs and that they never imagined fentanyl would upend their family. "I thought our family had made it through it," Sean Henry said.
Doore recalled being at the grocery store when her phone rang with the news of the crash. "I couldn't quite fathom it. I'm like, is she OK? And they said, no. She passed," she said.
Sean Henry drew a sharp contrast between his daughter's life and the man who killed her. "She had a purpose in life and she was going to make a difference," he said. "What a contrast to the killer who could only think about where he was going to get his next dose of fentanyl."
The case has renewed attention on the toll of fentanyl-impaired driving and on how the justice system weighs the lives lost to it. For Henry's family, the proposed sentence represents a fraction of what they have lost.
"She had a purpose in life and she was going to make a difference," Sean Henry said. "What a contrast to the killer who could only think about where he was going to get his next dose of fentanyl."