Pubdate: Wed, 31 May 2006
Source: Salt Lake Tribune (UT)
Copyright: 2006 The Salt Lake Tribune
Contact:  http://www.sltrib.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/383
Author: Stephen Hunt
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/rehab.htm (Treatment)

TEEN DRUG DEATH: 'NO EXCUSE'

Maximum Penalty For Abandoning Victim

WEST JORDAN - While most other mothers were telling their daughters, 
"Just say no," Macall Petersen and her mom were using drugs together, 
her attorney said at a sentencing hearing Tuesday. And while another 
teen might have called 911 to save a best friend from overdosing, 
Macall Petersen let Amelia Sorich die last summer and then dumped the 
body in the hills above Bountiful. Third District Judge Royal Hansen 
said Petersen's troubled upbringing was "no excuse" for injecting 
Sorich with a fatal mixture of heroin and cocaine and then doing 
nothing when she passed out. "You abandoned your friend and failed to 
assist her in the hour of her greatest need. Friends don't do what 
you did to Amelia Sorich," Hansen said, handing down the maximum 
possible sentence of zero to six years in prison. Hansen recommended 
the 18-year-old Draper teen complete a prison drug treatment program, 
obtain her high school diploma and have no contact with her mother. 
"That has not been a good thing in your life," the judge said. Hansen 
went well beyond the recommendations of the defense and prosecution, 
which asked for a year in jail, probation and drug treatment. The 
parents of the victim said they hope the stiff sentence will allow 
them to move on. "It feels good to know [Petersen] will have to think 
about this for a long time," Kathryn Sorich told news reporters. 
Sorich had told the judge her 18-year-old daughter was bright, 
talented and always ready to help a friend in need. She said Amelia 
took a special interest in Petersen, even inviting the girl to stay 
with them after she absconded from a drug treatment program. "But the 
one time [Amelia] needed someone to take action on her behalf, where 
were you?" Sorich asked, glaring at Petersen. "What were you 
thinking?" Sorich said her only daughter's death has left her bereft 
and contemplating suicide. "I have nothing.

We have nothing," Sorich said. "Pictures, memories, Macall. That's 
all we have left." Petersen, 18, pleaded guilty last month to 
negligent homicide, a class A misdemeanor, and desecration of a dead 
human body, a third-degree felony. At that time, defense attorney 
Rudy Bautista said Petersen had twice injected Sorich with a 
so-called speedball, but he insisted Sorich had asked for the drugs. 
Bautista said that Petersen has "firsthand knowledge" of the drug 
mixture because her mother, "a lifelong drug addict," used them. 
"[Petersen] did drugs with her mother, which is appalling," he told 
the court. He said Petersen is now trying to change her life. 
AdvertisementShe has participated in a documentary about drug use in 
Utah and is willing to speak to high school students about "the 
horrors of drug use," he said. Reading from a prepared statement, 
Petersen said, "I want to give my deepest apology to Amelia's 
family." She said she cherished her memories of Amelia Sorich. "No 
one will ever be able to appreciate the friendship we had," Petersen 
said. After Sorich passed out and died at Petersen's Draper home the 
night of June 25, Petersen and her boyfriend, Jasen Calacino, 20, 
loaded the body into the victim's car and dumped it above Bountiful, 
where it was discovered two days later by a passer-by. The pair 
abandoned Sorich's car near a Salt Lake City business and threw her 
cell phone and purse into a trash bin. Prosecutor Sean Torriente said 
Petersen's motives were "selfish." He said Petersen believed 
reporting the overdose would violate her juvenile court probation, 
which, unbeknownst to her, had been terminated the day before. When 
Kathryn Sorich called Petersen the next day, Petersen claimed she had 
not seen Amelia. She later claimed Amelia had gone to a rave party. 
The details of Amelia Sorich's death were revealed only after 
Calacino turned himself into police.

Calacino claims he argued with Petersen in favor of calling 911 and 
had attempted CPR on Sorich. The negligent homicide charge against 
Calacino has been dismissed, but he remains charged with desecration 
of a dead human body. Calacino is expected to resolve his case with a 
plea deal next month. Michael Sorich said the family had a 
closed-casket funeral because his daughter had been been dragged over 
rocks and bushes by Petersen and Calacino. "Her body was scratched, 
bruised and bloated," he told the judge. "That's what Macall did to 
me and my family." The father said he hopes Petersen's fate will send 
a message to others whose friends overdose on drugs. "If something 
like this happens, call 911."
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