Leonardtown, MD- On September 29, 2022, a jury found Ryan Nicholas Cherrico, age 32 of Mechanicsville, guilty of nine charges stemming from a drunk driving crash involving a horse and buggy near Point Lookout Road and Loveville Road in Loveville that resulted in the homicide of Henry Brubacher Stauffer, age 65 of Loveville.
Cherrico was found guilty of the October 27, 2021, death of Stauffer caused by him and subsequently fleeing the scene. Cherrico was found on November 2, 2021, and charged. The vehicle owned by Robin Nelson was reported stolen. Nelson was in Florida at the time and had provided police with information stating she left the car with a friend, whom Cherrrico stayed with from time to time.
Police also obtained text messages from Cherrico’s mother to him discussing the fatal crash and that he knew he caused it. The family also was attempting to send Cherrico to Colorado before police found him.
Chericco was found guilty of:
- Negligent Homicide by Vehicle Under the Influence
- Negligent Manslaughter by Vehicle
- Motor Vehicle Unlawful Taking
- Driving Vehicle While Under the Influence of Alcohol
- Driving Vehicle While Impaired by Alcohol
- Driving Motor Vehicle on Highway on Suspended License and Privilege
- Failure to Immediately Return and Remain at Scene of Accident Involving Death
- Failure of Driver Involved in Accident to Render Reasonable Assistance to Injured Person
Cherrico’s first trial was declared a mistrial over the summer. Cherrico faces over 25 years in prison if the maximum is given and sentences run consecutively. As of the time of this publishing, no sentencing date was listed in Maryland Case Search.
The case was prosecuted by St. Mary’s County Assistant States Attorney Sarah F. Proctor. Cherrico was represented by the St. Mary’s County Public Defender, Law Office of James E. Farmer, LLC, and The Law Office Of Robert Castro. The case was presided over by Judge Stanalonis.
EDIT: Case search listed Farmer and Castro as attornies of record. Prosecutor Sarah Proctor contacted the Chronicle to let us know the Public Defender only ever represented him.
Has there been any follow-up on this? Do you know what penalties were ultimately imposed? I’m still trying to figure out how to locate that information, and the best that I can come up with is that he may have been sentenced to 60-121 days. If that is the case, that is complete junk and we need to know why he was not given a longer sentence. A good man is dead, because of a bad man making bad decisions.