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Troy Critchley - 2008/08/13 08:28
Aussie Troy Critchley in plea deal on drag race deaths
Six people died in US when his car went out of control
Still faces huge civil suit
Relief ... Troy Critchley on 60 Minutes with his son Braydon.
AUSTRALIAN drag racer Troy Critchley, who was behind the wheel of a high-powered Corvette involved in a killer crash at a Tennessee charity event, has negotiated a deal that will keep him out of an American jail.
The Queensland-born, Texas-based Critchley was facing life in prison.
In the plea deal with Tennessee prosecutors and approved by the victims, the 37-year-old will be sentenced to 18 months of probation and a suspended one-year jail sentence.
He will go to jail only if he violates the probation.
Critchley is expected to appear in a Tennessee court tomorrow to formally consent to the deal.
It is a huge relief for Critchley, although he still faces a multimillion-dollar civil suit launched by the family members of the six young locals killed and the others injured in the crash.
Nicknamed The Burnout King, Critchley generated worldwide headlines in June, 2007, when his Corvette skidded out of control at the Cars for Kids charity event in the town of Selmer, Tennessee, and hurtled into the crowd.
He was attempting to perform one of his trademark burnouts.
Six spectators, aged 15 to 22, died and 22 other people, including a five-year-old boy, were injured.
In an interview with Australian 60 Minutes earlier this year Critchley said his memories of the crash would haunt him forever, but he did not know how to apologise to the victims.
"I don't know how I can ever say that I am sorry," he said in the Channel 9 interview.
"I will be sorry for the rest of my life."
Critchley was originally charged with six counts of felony vehicular homicide and 22 counts of reckless aggravated assault that could have sent him to jail for 90 years if convicted.
Under today's deal, the charges were dropped and replaced with 28 misdemeanor counts of reckless simple assault.
In a twist, it was the victims of the crash, who had criticised Critchley and the charity event's organisers in the days after the crash, who relented and called for the lenient plea deal.
District Attorney-General Michael Dunavant said lawyers representing the victims in the civil suits sent him a written request supporting "an offer to settle" the criminal charges.
The deal will fast-track the civil suits, which reportedly seek more than $US100 million ($113m) in damages from Critchley, his race team's owners, sponsors and officials of the city of Selmer.
"The proposed plea agreement would assist in the resolution of our clients' pending civil cases against these individuals and companies, and will help bring closure and healing to our clients, the most seriously injured and damaged victims of the event," the letter signed by the attorneys and victims states.
The plea deal sidesteps many of the obstacles facing the civil suits.
If Critchley was convicted of the original felony charges, he would face possible deportation to Australia, making it difficult to pursue the civil action.
The lesser misdemeanor charges will not place him in jeopardy of deportation.
The plea deal also allows the victims' lawyers expedited access to the case files compiled by Tennessee prosecutors, including witness statements, physical and photographic evidence and a report on the Corvette compiled by an automotive expert.
It allows Critchley to return to professional drag racing, but he must perform exhibition burnouts only on tracks "specifically designed and ordinarily and customarily used for drag car events".
The Selmer crash took place on a road with few adequate protective barriers for spectators.
The deal also allows Critchley to travel abroad
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