Drunk driver in Oregon crash that killed 3 Costa Mesa residents is sentenced to 15 years

The convicted drunk driver who caused a head-on crash that killed three Costa Mesa residents last year in Oregon was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison, according to the prosecutor and victims’ family members who attended the hearing.

Joshua Gibson, 28, also of Costa Mesa, pleaded guilty in May to three counts of manslaughter, two counts of assault and one count of driving while intoxicated.

Because Oregon law bars early release for inmates convicted of certain violent crimes, Gibson must serve the entire 15 years of his sentence, minus the time he has already spent behind bars since his arrest in November, said Josephine County District Attorney Ryan Mulkins.

“I just hope and I pray that it’s enough time for him to turn his life around,” Darlene Stinson, the mother of one of the victims, said after the hearing.

Stinson’s son, Steve, was one of the three people killed the evening of Sept. 10 when Gibson, driving them and another passenger in a Buick, tried to illegally pass the car in front of him. The Buick smashed into an oncoming pickup on Highway 199 just south of Kerby, Ore., according to police.

Claire Honsaker, 25, and Christoffer Burke, 27, also died in the wreck, according to Oregon authorities.

Gibson, the pickup’s driver and the fourth passenger in the Buick, Kean Krause, 21, of Costa Mesa, were hurt, police said.

“Our lives have been shattered by it,” said Kari Johansen, Burke’s mother, who was one of at least a half-dozen grieving family members who spoke at the hearing.

The group expected the 15-year prison term, having been told the terms of a plea agreement between prosecutors and Gibson. Nevertheless, some asked the judge to instead sentence Gibson to life in prison.

Johansen said she couldn’t yet answer the question of whether she thinks the sentence is just.

“Five years for each life seems very minimal, but 15 years in prison without any possibility of parole is a long time,” she said.

When Darlene Stinson spoke in court, she addressed Gibson directly.

“I told him I don’t like him and sometimes I get angry with him, but I don’t hate him,” she said. “I do forgive him.”

Steve Stinson’s sister Stephanie Janicki said most of the group in the Buick that night were close friends. But, she added, her family had never heard of Gibson before the crash.

“I thought hearing him speak today would make me feel better, and it didn’t,” Janicki said. “It didn’t at all.”

The tragedy, she said, could have been avoided.

“There was a sober person in the vehicle; why didn’t she drive?” Janicki said. “And she had to die instead.”

After the hearing, Janicki reminisced about the last time she saw her brother. It was at a birthday party for their grandmother, who has since died.

That day, Janicki said, her brother spent time with her two children, ages 2 and 5. The trio spent more than an hour scouring the backyard for turtles.

Something about her brother had changed recently, she said.

“The way that he said he loved me when we said goodbye was just different,” Janicki recalled. “Everything about him was just different. He was more content than I’d seen him in the past.”

Steve, she said, had a new goal. He had been saving money so he could move to Oregon, where he planned to buy land and live off it.

In the meantime, he would take trips to the state, spending a few months at a time working and socking away money to reach his dream.

He had his life savings with him the night of the crash, she said.