A hearing will be held one week from today in McKean County
Court to determine if Nikole Smock and Zachary Coon will serve
their sentences – and pay nearly ,50,000 in restitution – as
imposed last month.

The two were charged in relation to an accident on Dec. 30,
2007, leading to the death of 20-year-old Alissa Cameron.

Scheduled at 9 a.m. April 17 before Senior Judge Richard Saxton,
the hearing is on motions from defense counsel and the prosecution
to modify the sentence of each defendant – Smock, 20, of East Main
Street, Bradford, and Coon, 20, of Pleasant Street, Bradford.

Both were sentenced March 16, Smock to 12 to 24 months in jail,
24 months of probation and 320 hours of community service; and Coon
to 12 months less one day to 24 months less one day in jail,
followed by 45 to 90 days in jail for underage drinking and 60
months of probation. The two were ordered to pay a total of
,48,649.80 in restitution to the Cameron family.

Both sentences were to be served in McKean County Jail, as
Coon’s attorney, Peter Sala, said Coon was employed and Smock’s
attorney, Patricia Ambrose, said Smock was in college.

Ambrose made a motion following sentencing for an immediate
furlough for Smock while college is in session. The furlough was
granted by Saxton. Smock is to be released at 6 p.m. Sunday each
week school is in session and is to return to jail each Friday no
later than 7 p.m. Her furlough is monitored by the McKean County
Adult Probation Office, according to court records.

On March 19, Ambrose and Sala filed a joint motion to modify the
sentences of both defendants, saying that the Pennsylvania Superior
Court does not allow the defendants to be held responsible for
restitution.

Coon had pleaded no contest to a charge of solicitation of an
accident involving death, while Smock pleaded no contest to a
charge of an accident involving death. Quoting a court decision,
the motion to modify the sentence states that Smock and Coon cannot
be held responsible for the restitution after a conviction on those
particular charges “since the defendant has not been held
criminally accountable for the actions which resulted in the death
of the accident victim.”

To hold them responsible for the restitution would be a
violation of their due process rights, the motion reads.

The motion also states that family members cannot claim
restitution, as the Pennsylvania legislature does not define them
as victims.

District Attorney John Pavlock argues that neither Sala nor
Ambrose ever asserted the claim against restitution before or
during the imposition of sentence.

On March 25, Pavlock made a motion to modify or vacate the
sentence of both defendants. He says that at the time of
sentencing, Saxton “strongly considered that … Coon was employed
and therefore able to pay restitution to the victim’s family.”
Saxton said at that time that had Coon not been employed, his
sentence would have been served in state prison rather than county
jail.

Pavlock states that Coon is not currently employed and the judge
should reconsider his sentence because of that.

The prosecutor also argues that if Saxton grants the motion to
preclude restitution, “this would fundamentally change the factors
that the court considered when structuring this sentence.
Therefore, the current sentence should be vacated pending ruling on
the defendants’ pending motion.”

The prosecutor said that after the ruling on the motion, the
defendants should be resentenced based on facts including the state
of Coon’s employment and the amount of restitution that can be
awarded.