CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A Kanawha County man convicted in the death of a Davis Creek volunteer firefighter is getting out of prison early.
Kanawha County Circuit Judge Tod Kaufman agreed to give 39-year-old Charles Darren Roberts of Alum Creek a chance to clean up his life during a sentence reduction hearing on Monday. Roberts pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, third-degree arson and fourth-degree arson in 2012.
“I’m suspending [the third-degree arson conviction] and I’m giving him the benefit of the last part of the sentence to take the drug and alcohol treatment that everybody understands that he needs,” said Kaufman.
Roberts was arrested in December 2011, a few days after the death of 61-year-old Joey King. The volunteer fir fighter was responding to a blaze when he fell from a bridge on U.S. 119 and died.
Roberts admitted to setting railroad ties on fire while he was under the influence of alcohol. He has since served out the one-year sentence for involuntary manslaughter and fourth-degree arson. He still has a year and several months left on the third-degree arson sentence.
Kaufman ruled Robert’s time would be better served in the Union Mission Drug Rehab Program, which lasts 12 months, rather than spending that time behind bars.
“There needs to be a court monitored component of drug and alcohol rehab outside the prison system to make sure, as best we can, that this type of tragedy or something similar doesn’t happen again,” ruled Kaufman.
The victim’s sister, Arietta King, was sitting in the courtroom during the hearing. She said she is opposed to Roberts getting out of prison one day early.
“He should have done his time. Justice just is not there all of the time,” she said.
If Roberts does not successfully complete the intensive drug program, he will be sent back to prison to serve out the rest of his sentence behind bars.