David Mark Buot has been sentenced to a term of 22 years in the Arizona Department of Corrections for deliberately driving his car into oncoming traffic and causing the death of Christine Ann Anderson. Maricopa County Superior Court Judge Robert Miles imposed the maximum allowable sentence under Arizona law for the crime of second-degree murder.
On the morning of October 22, 2010, David Buot was driving eastbound on Pinnacle Peak Road when his vehicle suddenly crossed the center line into the westbound lane and collided with a vehicle driven and solely occupied by Christine Ann Anderson, who was on her way to play tennis. Anderson sustained fatal injuries from the impact and was pronounced dead an hour later. She left behind a husband and three sons. Buot told police he swerved to avoid something in the roadway, but subsequent investigation and eyewitness accounts confirmed that there was nothing in the roadway at the time of the accident and no mechanical problems with his vehicle.
Investigators learned from family friends that Buot had serious anger management issues and argued frequently with his wife. He was also known to have made multiple threats to his wife that he would drive into oncoming traffic to end his life and was arguing with her on the phone in the moments leading up to the crash. A Good Samaritan who was at the scene of the crash called the defendant’s wife on his behalf and was told by her that Buot had intentionally caused the collision. Additionally, while in the emergency room after the accident, a different witness overheard Buot tell his wife that he caused the collision on purpose.
“I commend the judge and jury in this case for holding this defendant accountable for his horrific and utterly senseless actions that robbed a family of a wife and mother,” said Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery. “While we strive to deliver some degree of justice with this sentence, our hearts go out to the victim’s family,” he added.
On February 7, 2011, a Maricopa County Grand Jury indicted Buot on one count of second-degree murder for intentionally causing Anderson’s death. Following a 5-day trial before Judge Miles, the jury returned a guilty verdict after deliberating for less than an hour.