OBSERVER photo by Gregory Bacon Randall Rolison is escorted to his seat in Chautauqua County Court last month.

MAYVILLE — Several members of the late Alexis Hughan’s family gathered in Chautauqua County Court on Tuesday to see if Randall Rolison was going to plead guilty in her death after striking and killing her while operating a tractor trailer.

If he had pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in Hughan’s case and additionally pleaded guilty to a charge of aggravated vehicular manslaughter for driving an SUV which killed Linda Kraemer, saying he was under the influence of narcotics in both accidents, then he would be sentenced to 13 1/3 to 25 years in state prison. The 60 year old would not have faced any other charges had he accepted the plea agreement.

Instead, Rolison rejected the plea offer.

Hughan’s family exited the courtroom and took the elevator down with District Attorney Jason Schmidt to discuss court action in private. One of them stated, “He disrespected us,” as the elevator doors closed.

Schmidt, after meeting with the family of the 15-year-old who was killed Dec. 31, 2021, in Jamestown, said he agrees that this case is very emotional but said the plea deal wouldn’t have reduced any charges in either accident.

“From their perspective, we weren’t really negotiating the charges relative to those deaths. We wanted him to plead to the top counts,” he said.

It was on Dec. 3, 2022, nearly a year after Hughan’s death, that Rolison was driving a 2020 Chevrolet Trail Blazer when he allegedly failed to stop at a stop sign at the intersection of Route 83 and Center Road in Arkwright. The vehicle collided with a 2018 Ford F-150 resulting in the death of Kraemer, who was a 71-year-old passenger in the pickup truck. He also caused serious injuries to her 71-year-old husband who was driving.

Rolison had been out on bail following his arrest in Hughan’s fatality when the Arkwright crash occurred. He was hospitalized and after recovering, had his bail revoked and returned to the county jail, where he remains.

After being arrested for the Jamestown accident, police began investigating various aspects of Rolison’s life. They allegedly discovered Rolison had three illegal handguns in storage, so he was charged with second-degree criminal possession of a weapon. That case carries with it a 5 to 15 year sentence.

Schmidt was willing to essentially drop the weapons charge if he pleaded guilty in the two deaths but Rolison declined the proposal. His attorney, Public Defender Nathaniel Barone, informed the court that his client would rather have three trials.

After court, Barone talked about Rolison’s decision.

“The attorney is required to make a recommendation to the client as to whether or not to accept or decline an offer. That’s something I do with every client. I refuse to talk about what that recommendation is, however that is something that we had to make sure is relayed to Mr. Rolison,” he said.

Barone added that with Rolison’s decision to decline the offer, his client is presumed innocent.

“Ultimately, it’s the decision of the client (to plead guilty or not) and it’s one of the most fundamental rights in our criminal justice system,” he said.

Schmidt said from his perspective, the prosecution is ready to go to trial.

“We don’t want to play with this anymore. We’re prepared to go forward,” he said.

The weapons court case will take place June 12. The other two trials will be held after that one is complete.

Schmidt said the federal government is investigating the weapons possession allegation as well, so Rolison could be facing federal charges in that case.

Schmidt said the reason the weapons trial is going before the Jamestown fatality is because police discovered the alleged weapons before the drug tests were back, meaning that the weapons charges were placed first.