A Mount Sidney man who hit a Churchville woman in his vehicle head-on while intoxicated last year, leaving her permanently disabled, has been sentenced to one year in prison.
Augusta County Circuit Judge Sean Workowski said Aaron David Sheets, 34, had made significant strides in his life since the January 2024 collision that left Brianna Bosserman, 27, with a permanent injury to her left arm, post-traumatic stress and the inability to work. In court Monday, the judge spoke of Sheets’ sobriety since the accident and his genuine remorse for what happened.
“But there has to be punishment for your behavior,’’ Workowski told Sheets.
The judge also said he was disappointed that Sheets did not believe he deserved to go to prison.
Sheets was sentenced to one year of active prison time for his earlier guilty plea to the felony charge of maiming while driving under the influence and a suspended sentence of a year for driving under the influence. He must also be on supervised probation for three years, submit to both mental health and substance abuse evaluations, and surrender his driver’s license.
Sheets was driving his 2017 Toyota Tacoma late on the night of Jan. 24, 2024, south on Virginia Route 42 in Augusta County when he crossed the centerline and struck a Kia Optima driven by Bosserman.
Virginia state trooper Andrew Garasimowicz responded to the accident. The trooper said his first thought when seeing the accident debris field was that a fatality had happened. The trooper said because of the severity of the crash, “I am shocked she is still alive.”
Bosserman said she has endured several surgeries on her left arm because of the crash and cannot lift anything heavier than 7 pounds. She continues to receive PTSD therapy and has fears she will suffer another car accident and fears the same for her family.
She has memory issues from the trauma to her brain. And Bosserman has lost more than 30 pounds since the accident. Bosserman also lost a factory job that required lifting.
Sheets apologized numerous times to Bosserman and her family during his testimony to his defense attorney, Tripp Franklin.
He has passed all breath tests he has received in the 20 months since the crash, has gone regularly to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and attends church weekly.
Sheets recalls drinking on the night of the accident with a friend in Stuarts Draft but does not remember anything other than the sound of the crash and waking up later in a jail cell.
Evidence presented by Assistant Augusta County Commonwealth’s Attorney Holly Rasheed showed that Sheets was uncooperative in the minutes after the accident in January 2024.
Sheets refused a breath test at the scene and used profanity when speaking to Bosserman’s mother and about Bosserman. Evidence also showed he consumed five drinks prior to the accident.
Franklin told Workowski his client had already paid a price for his actions. The attorney said Sheets now had a felony conviction, significantly less time with his 5-year-old son he shares with and ex-wife and has paid about $7,500 for the breath testing through Blue Ridge Court Services. And the attorney also pointed to Sheets’ loss of a driver’s license which will create logistical challenges for him into the future.
“He will lose his driver’s license indefinitely,’’ Franklin said. “That is a massive punishment. He will not be able to catch the metro from Mount Sidney.”
Rasheed said Sheets was acting more like a victim than someone convicted of a crime. She told Workowski, “Don’t let this show cloud what his actions were.”