Fireworks Follow-up

You may recall back in July, I mentioned the case of a local boy killed by the use of illegal fireworks. They were launching home-made mortar shells with a PVC pipe when the kid was hit. The father finally came up in court, and walked.

Getting hit by lightning was enough punishment for the New Kent County man who'd been charged with involuntary manslaughter and child neglect in a July 4 fireworks accident in Gloucester County that killed the man's 15-year-old stepson, a judge agreed.

"That's fair and reasonable," said Circuit Judge William H. Shaw III in a Gloucester trial Tuesday that ended with Ryland Fleet, 51, pleading guilty to a single misdemeanor count of unlawful use of fireworks. In return, Commonwealth's Attorney Robert D. Hicks agreed not to prosecute the two felony charges.

Hicks told Shaw that Fleet was undergoing therapy to deal with the grief of the "tragic accident" that killed Ryan Seomin during a party at a Gloucester residence.

The next month, lightning struck Fleet while he was riding his bicycle, Hicks said, "causing serious physical and cognitive injuries," which included temporary amnesia.

"Mr. Fleet initially didn't remember the July 4th incident," the prosecutor told Judge Shaw. Hicks said considering that Fleet had to begin grief therapy all over again and that he had no prior criminal record, "we decided it was the right thing to do."

Fleet, who hobbled to the defense table with a cane, casts on an arm and a knee, murmured in a barely audible voice, "No," when Shaw asked if he wanted to say anything before formal sentencing.

Shaw then sentenced him to 12 months in jail, with all of the time suspended for three years.