By:
Issue: May 2011
Section: Feature
Tags: Tony Majestic, Todd Stansfield, Sean Student, Michael Budge, Marvin Gilchrist, crash, awards
Rewrite
Nearly seven years ago, 16-year-old Todd Stansfield was behind the wheel of his car when it smashed into another vehicle on a rural, two-lane road in Douglas County. Four people died. Stansfield lived. And ever since he put pen to paper after the crash, he’s been trying to use the power of his words to make sense of that horrific night.
By mid 2005, the case was still hung up in court and there was no resolution in sight. Were Todd’s case to go to trial, Gilchrist’s blood-alcohol content could be admitted in court. Ivan and Sherri had taken the Douglas County sheriff’s investigative findings to the media and now were openly criticizing forensic work on the case. Juvenile justice groups jumped in, too, organizing protests outside the courthouse during Todd’s hearings and circulating a petition against prosecuting him as an adult. A similar case in Jefferson County in 2003—in which a 16-year-old killed three friends and injured nine others—resulted in 12 years of probation.
In August 2005, 14 months after the wreck, prosecutors and Todd’s attorney reached a deal. Todd would plead guilty to two felony counts of criminally negligent homicide—one for the deaths of the three boys, and one for the death of Marvin Gilchrist—but he would avoid prison. He would serve 90 days in a juvenile jail, 12 years of probation, and complete 1,200 hours of community service.
Gilchrist’s family was outraged. For months, they’d advocated that Todd be tried as an adult. They’d gotten friends to write letters saying the boy should pay for his crime. Now their father was being treated as the reason for the wreck. They felt like pariahs, having to be led through a back door of the courthouse to avoid protesters who showed up for the sentencing on September 16.
Inside the courtroom that day, Todd wore Tony’s orange short-sleeved shirt. Before the sentencing, Todd stood and tried to apologize to the families. He broke down. Instead, he faced the judge. “I’m so sorry for all the pain and suffering this accident caused,” Todd sobbed. “I know this has been stressful on victims’ families. I’m so sorry.... I think about them every day.”
On his first night in jail, Todd was put into an 8-by-11 cell. When he was allowed to, he would write with the nub of a pencil:
I wake today with hopes for a better tomorrow / A day when the sky will be painted by God’s blushing sunrise / A day when worry will be limited by the very happiness I seek / A day many dream of and few ever experience / A day when I will be healed from these self-inflicted wounds.
Todd kept up with his classwork and graduated in May 2006 (his plea agreement prevented him from walking during graduation ceremonies), then he enrolled at Metropolitan State College of Denver where he studied business. Every day, he’d ride public transportation home, where he’d study, write, and check in with his probation officer—four times each night—before he went to bed. His mother worried about him. Shortly after Todd’s 21st birthday, when a court-mandated driving restriction was lifted, Maryanne told her son that he should drive the family car around the neighborhood with her. Todd was uneasy, but he made it a mile before returning to the driveway. He handed his mother the keys.
“That was good,” Maryanne said. “What did you think?”
“I think I’m fine, Mom.”
Todd drove infrequently after that, and rarely more than a few miles from home.
By the spring of 2009, Todd had finished college. His sister, Lindsay, had already invited Todd to live with her in New York. His mother pushed the idea, but it wasn’t until October of that year that Todd got clearance to transfer his supervision. In New York, he’d have to have regular urine tests and occasional strip searches. He’d also have a 9 p.m. curfew. Todd couldn’t wait to move.




I have to agree with the
I have to agree with the above comments. While it is nice to know what happed to Todd after the crash, the last I heard he was a vegetable basically after my parents and a few neighbors pulled him from the car, but are the parents, relatives and friends of all those others ok with this article? The "old man's " name by the way is Michael Gilchrist not Marvin. Or so it says on his cross right up the road from my house. I can't really believe they are blaming him for the accident... though I guess it helped Todd out because he can't be blamed completely for it since Gilchrist was supposedly drinking..... but then again a blood alchohol level just below the legal limit VS speeding WAY over the speed limit on a very very hilly road with bumps ... I don't know...glad to see when they talk about Gilchrist later on they say that not to many people drinking or not could have avoided something like that. My mother has a co-worker that was on the phone with one of the students as the crash happend. They said they were going over 100MPH she told them to slow down then the phone went dead. I was in our arena with a friend when we heard a loud noise and ran up to the driveway to see what it was. Saw fire and ran to the house to get my mom and call the police. I was fairly young at the time so my mom asked me to stay in the driveway as she and my dad ran up to help try to pull the kids out before the fire department even got there. I met her halfway between our driveway and the accident with some blankets for the kids and our fire extinguisher, which we found out doesnt work, so there was no fire extinguisher from anything I remember..... It was not this amazing one man thing. The guy that supposedly pulled them out was that firefighter who at first said the crash was Gilchrests fault. He also said the roads were wet and it was hard to see. The roads were not wet. We could see everything down the road clearly. AND it was not "Twilight" as it says here. It was definitely daylight out. And from what my mom says the boys were not "bloodied". I am glad that Todd has made a recovery. But I agree with the comment stating that : I hope he is writing about safe driving. At least some of the time. I can understand though if he were writing about some things for himself as well. I am also glad that , from what I had heard, there was another guy who stayed got out of the car before the accident to stay with his girlfriend. But I am truly sorry for those who lost a friend or family. member during that crash. Just please know that people around here , my parents and our neighbors, did all they could for all of them involved in the crash to try to get them out before the car caught on fire to much to do anything.
Why?
I am writing for the family of one of the victims of this Horrific crash. Actually, I'm writing for myself...they have their own thoughts and feelings about that day, and this article. I know the article wasn't written to glorify Todd Stansfield, but it seems to make the reader want to empathise with how "terrible" his life has been since the accident. He's in New York...writing... I am writing this 7 years to the day that my cousin, Sean Student died. Fathers Day...AGAIN. 3 days after he turned 17...AGAIN...Year after Year. I guess I am writing to say and ask that an additional article be written to commemorate the 4 lives lost. To tell how Those families are getting along now, and to emphasize on Teens driving SAFELY and NOT Carelessly! Cars arent meant for showing off how fast they can go.
Todd, according to some of the teens at my familys' house the day after the accident, told me he was driving fast and wreckless the whole night. One of them even said, "Todd, slow down, you're gonna kill someone!" , and sure enough, less than 2 hours later he killed 3 people and the next one died the next morning.
My aunt Karen cries EVERYDAY!!! His younger brother, whom played hockey side by side with Sean since they were 3 and 4 years old, could no longer stand to be on the Ice without his brother there...gave up his hockey carreer when his brother's was taken from him. I NEVER thought hockey would be dead in our house. The jerseys and bags still lay on the table in the garage, dusty and untouched.
Todd took a lot more than just 4 people's lives that day. He took my aunt's, my uncle's, and my cousin's (Sean's Brother) as well. And yet, he still gets to call or be with his family on Holidays and special occasions. For my family, not only is Seany not there, neither are his parents or brother.
I'm sorry to be so brash. Please understand my pain and frustration. I want something POSITIVE to come out of all of this. I hope when Todd writes, he writes about Teens driving safely, I wanted him to do advocacy speeches...or perhaps this Magazine could promote these things in some ways. I don't want the 4 lives he took to be in vain, I want his daily endeavors to be in honor of all of them, as well as those of us left here to deal with our losses. I want my cousin back and our lives back, but I know that will NEVER happen, so in the meantime, I guess I want peace and awareness so that this TERRIBLE TRAGEDY NEVER HAPPENS TO ONE MORE FAMILY!!!
Thanks you for your time.
Spaceystarr
Article about Todd Standfield in may, 2011 issue
How dare you resurrect the pain of loss for the people Todd Standfield accidentally killed to sell a magazine. Did you ask the parents of those kids before you wrote this article? Did you get permission to run their pictures?
I personally know the parents of one of the kids who were killed.They still have tremendous trouble processing their son's loss. Now you have not only dredged it up all over again but spread it to your large magazine reader base - to sell magazines with a sensationalist story.
Shame on you and shame on 5280 for running it.