Former SAO investigator asks for reduced sentence in deadly crash

FORT MYERS, Fla.- A former State Attorney’s Office investigator convicted in a deadly hit-and-run is asking for a reduced sentence.

Charles Lawson, 58, is currently serving a three-year sentence for the 2013 crash on Christmas Day that killed Michael Sasen.

In court Tuesday, Lawson took to the stand to testify seven months after pleading no contest to driving drunk the night of the deadly crash.

“Based on the circumstances of the incident, this being my first and only arrest, I just felt I maybe could be offered a second chance, a lower sentence,” Lawson said.

Lawson explained he’s scared for his safety, “the man that had the cell right next to me, in the middle of the night his cellmate decided to get up and grab a pencil and stab this guy right through the eye.”

In court, Lawson’s attorney listed two facts he believes the court misunderstood during the sentencing hearing back in October.

The attorney stated Lawson did not see the victim in the roadway the night of the crash and added Lawson went back to the scene on his own accord, not because someone told him to.

“I didn’t know what had hit my vehicle, I had no idea,” Lawson said.

But according to prosecutors, a friend of Lawson’s gave a statement saying Lawson called him after the crash and said “I hit someone, he’s in the middle of the road.”

The victim’s brother, Dean Sasen, believes Lawson should have to finish out the prison sentence after leaving his brother in the road to die.

“Mr. Lawson was charged with drunk driving and leaving the scene of a death,” Dean Sasen said. “I don’t think three years was enough time to begin with for killing my brother, he should not be allowed out.”

The judge will decide Lawson’s fate within the next 30 days.