Family Of Kevan M. Tante

Dear Sir or Madam:

Hello, we are writing you today to let you know of a situation that has devastated our family over the past few weeks, a situation we feel has only been compounded by our State's Justice System. The purpose of this letter is to enlist the help of the readers (in any possible way) and to promote awareness of the situation surrounding Kevin's case. Please take a moment of time to read the information listed below, and thank you in advance for your time.

Kevan Matthew Tante (at the time only 18 years old) was involved in a car accident on February 3, 2006. During this accident, a child lost her life. This incident has affected all of our lives over the past year. There is absolutely nothing worse than the loss of a child and we are all devastated, especially Kevan. He has lived day in and day out with nothing but remorse, which is evident in his eyes and all his actions. Following the accident Kevan was charged with Left of Center, driving with license revoked, careless and reckless driving and involuntary manslaughter. It is amazing how one ACCIDENT on one day can affect so many lives as drastically as this accident has. Could this have been you or me? Absolutely! Everyone occasionally crosses a line in the middle of a sharp curve, especially when you don't see or think anything else is coming. The car approaching did not have their headlights on at 6:43am, when sunrise was at 7:07am. Would you have seen this car approaching.

The arising question in many of your minds is this-if Kevan had a revoked license why was he driving? Kevan had received a few speeding citations in the past, which caused NCDOT/NCDMV to issue a letter of revocation of his driver's license. Kevan clearly had a certain address stated on his driver's license, which was and is his permanent mailing address. The letter of revocation was sent to a non current, non existing address (that the DMV changed without consent) and the letter was never received by Kevan. Kevan would have never been driving on the road that day if he had been properly notified by the NCDMV concerning the revocation of his driver's license. Why doesn't the DMV send such important letters as these by certified mail, return receipt requested or by to be delivered by a Sheriff's Deputy like many subpoenas are delivered? This letter was sent by regular First class postal mail, with no confirmation of receipt. Is your license valid, makes you wonder doesn't it? To add to the confusion, on December 11, 2006, four days after Kevan was convicted and sentenced to prison, Kevan received via first class mail at his current mailing address (as listed on his driver's license), several letters issued from the DMV, these letters were post dated starting December 5 2006 - December 8 2006. It is amazing that these letters were sent to this address, because the original letter(s) was sent to a non current, non existing address. We know there is no way he could have initiated a change of address because he was in Court the week of December 4, 2006. This leads me to wonder if the DMV had the previous letters of revocation returned to them and corrected their mistake (albeit a year later). Kevan can no longer receive these letters because he is serving 16-20 months in prison. This could all have been prevented if only that one VERY IMPORTANT letter had been received by him and he had been properly notified of the DMV's action.

The Jacksonville Daily News contained an article that we as a family found of particular interest on July 31, 2006 entitled "Families Fight for Punishment After Fatal Wrecks". In this particular article it is stated by NC Highway Patrol Trooper J.L. January that, "If a driver unintentionally kills another person while engaged in a traffic violation, such as driving let of center or not stopping at a traffic signal of a stop sign, the trooper has no choice but to charge the driver with misdemeanor death by motor vehicle. The charge is upped to a felony if the same driver was impaired and unintentionally killed someone while engaged in a violation of a motor vehicle law. More serious charged such as involuntary manslaughter, voluntary manslaughter, second degree murder and first degree murder require hefty evidence and several elements of law have to be met. For example, to convict someone of involuntary manslaughter-the most lenient of the four felony charges-its necessary to prove that the driver was impaired, violated two or more motor vehicle laws and disregarded the consequences and safety of another person. A past driving record, a criminal background or even driving with a revoked license doesn't come into play when someone is charged with killing someone in a wreck. It's the past. The only information that counts is what happened during the wreck. The young man in the case discussed in the article was charged with two counts of misdemeanor death by motor vehicle, driving while license revoked, and driving left of center. On 10/17/06 the young man mentioned in the above article received 18 months probation, (not a prison sentence) for the death of both the driver and passenger of the other vehicle. It seems that maybe our citation processes are not even consistent. If a past driving record is not taken into account when original charges were issued, then why was Kevan charged with involuntary manslaughter and not misdemeanor death by motor vehicle as the young man in the before mentioned Daily News article was? After Kevan's trial his attorney contacted several members of the jury to ask the important question, "Was there something I could have done differently, that would have changed the outcome of the verdict?" He was told by several of the jurors that Kevan was convicted because of his previous driving record, not the accident.



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