Unsealed court documents show the checkered past of the man who killed four pedestrians in Fountain Hills in 2018 and the lenient sentence the judge handed down in the case.
Alex Bashaw was looking at his phone while driving 53 mph in a 35 mph zone, the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office said in a 2019 report.
Court documents show the prosecution in the case was pushing for the maximum sentence of 16 years in prison.
According to a plea agreement, Bashaw would face a concurrent sentence for each of the two couples killed in the March 13, 2018, crash.
The prosecution asked the court to allow Bashaw’s sentence for each couple to be served consecutively, meaning Bashaw was facing 16 years in prison.
Ultimately, Bashaw was sentenced to a 6-year term that he is currently serving in a Yuma prison.
The sentence was met with mixed emotions from the daughter of two of the victims.
“I don’t know, six years for losing both my parents doesn’t seem quite right," said Barbara Snyder, daughter of Robert and Karen Bonta.
The Bontas were killed as they were legally crossing the roadway at Saguaro and Palisades boulevards.
Bashaw had just jumped the sidewalk, crashing into Ronald and Patti Doornbos. As he fought for control of his 1998 Ford Explorer, he struck both Robert and Karen.
Robert and Karen, snowbirds from Fort Madison, Iowa, were retired teachers and experienced travelers.They had travelled the world, visiting all seven continents.
The weather, desert landscaping and boutique shops are what drew Robert and Karen to Fountain Hills.
“My mom loved Southwest jewelry,” Snyder said. “They would go to all the fairs. She would buy southwest jewelry, barter and exchange it. She had all her favorite places she would go.”
They were also pillars of their community. Robert volunteered on the board for Fort Madison Community Hospital and sat on a design committee for a middle school in Fort Madison. According to a statement by Judy Gerdes, a friend of the Bontas, Karen volunteered at her church as a pianist and took part in community improvement projects.
“They were pretty well known in the community,” Snyder remembered. “My Dad was a huge fan of Landshark Beer and all the Landshark Beer in our town and the bigger town next to us was sold out because everybody brought Landshark Beers to the party, to celebrate my parents.”
Included in the Maricopa County Superior Court Disposition Sheet, Alex Bashaw had previously served time for a prior felony conviction. He also has been convicted of three misdemeanors and had trouble with the law before he was 18.
Bashaw, the prosecution contended, was a high school dropout who later earned his G.E.D. He was self-employed, working “manual labor for cash payment” prior to his arrest.
According to the Arizona Department of Corrections, Bashaw is expected to be released on June 14, 2023.