Judge Gina Jones rejected Stuart Roane’s plea deal Tuesday, ordering him to undergo a mental competency evaluation before the case goes forward.
Roane, 59, of Marion, Indiana, was charged after allegedly slamming into a mother’s vehicle in September 2023 at 117 mph near U.S. 30. The impact ripped the vehicle apart, sending a baby’s car seat flying.
Everyone survived.
He pleaded guilty Nov. 12 to criminal recklessness, a Level 6 felony, and misdemeanor reckless driving. Court documents allege he had cocaine in his system.
The mother, Amanda Wartman, who was extracted, barely remembered the aftermath and was sent to the hospital with multiple injuries. The baby had bruises and scrapes.
Jones told lawyers she was concerned that Roane was not fully owning up to the criminal recklessness part of the plea. Rather than make the call to accept the entire plea, she was more comfortable potentially having a jury decide at trial.
His trial was set for Aug. 10.
Earlier in the hearing, Wartman told the court she took her 15-month-old daughter out for a ride to get her to go to sleep.
The woman said she would “never be the same.”
If someone saw a picture of the crash and learned everyone survived, “no one would believe you,” she said.
At the hospital, she could hear the screams of a nearby gunshot victim. She never got to see her daughter, who was promptly transferred to the University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital, her husband later told the court.
Wartman was left with three broken ribs, a punctured lung, an injured spleen and a broken hand.
Today, she is still scared to drive. Her other son could have been killed if he had been in the vehicle with them.
The fact that they survived “should not give (Roane) grace,” she said. “Maybe I was out there to save someone else.”
Derek Wartman, her husband, said he opposed the plea, saying it was too lenient and they wanted to go to trial. The girl seemed fine, but they couldn’t rule out long-term consequences.
“For the rest of my life, I will wonder what he broke in her,” he said.
When he went to Comer, he thought, “I left Amanda to die.”
Roane “should have killed half my family,” he said, later adding, “He deserves to go to jail.”
Deputy Prosecutor Maureen Koonce asked for the maximum 2.5-year sentence in jail under the plea. A toxicology report found Roane had traces of cocaine in his system, but they couldn’t prove he was high at the time of the crash.
The fact he was still driving was “all the more troubling,” she said. “It’s almost like this guy thought he was a race car driver.”
Defense lawyer Kirk Marrie said he knew of the case before it was assigned to him.
“I remember thinking, this monster,” he said.
His impression evolved as Roane met with him in his office. He was a U.S. Navy veteran and intelligent, but held back.
“He’s not a bad man,” the lawyer said.
Marrie argued Roane’s vehicle was a “projectile” and Wartman, by being the vehicle he hit, may have “saved other people.”
Jones cut him off.
“I’m going to need you to stop this line,” she said. “Go onto something else.”
Minutes later, Jones nudged him again.
Marrie asked for “whatever kind of grace” Jones could give his client.
Roane said he was “regretful” for the crash.
“I never intended any harm,” he said, later adding, “I feel terrible about what happened.”
“This whole case bothered me,” Jones told the court.
“I’m not getting (he’s admitting) recklessness,” she said. “I’m getting, there’s mental issues (Marrie spoke of).”
There was a “constant denial” without Roane admitting his recklessness, she said.
After a brief recess, Jones said she would reject the plea deal.
A status hearing is in April, with a pretrial conference in July.
Police responded at 8:48 p.m. Sept. 23, 2023, to the intersection of U.S. 30 (Lincoln Highway) and Burr Street in Schererville.
A witness said Roane blew a red light going east on U.S. 30 at a “really high rate of speed.” He hit the woman in the intersection, the charging affidavit alleges. The man estimated Roane was going 75-80 miles per hour.
Another witness said the Malibu went by “in a flash” and the crash sounded like an “explosion.” The mother was “awake” and “crying out for her baby,” but there was “no back seat…anymore”, the witness told investigators.
Other women who were checking the scene heard a baby crying and saw the car seat flipped on its side 20 feet from the car’s rear half on the grass. The child had blood on her face, mouth and ear.
A different witness told police two cars passed him — like they were “street racing” — on the U.S. 30’s left shoulder near a Jaguar dealership, before one got into the crash.
A crash reconstruction investigator estimated Roane’s Malibu was traveling at 120 miles per hour, while the airbag data showed 117 miles per hour. The woman’s car was going about 16 per hour.
mcolias@post-trib.com