BILLINGS – Dominick Buccelli, the man charged with killing 49-year-old Marie Golden during a hit and run last July, has been sentenced to 35 years in the Montana State Prison.
Her mother Marie Hunter, tells us she is happy Buccelli has been sentenced, but it does not help ease the pain of losing her daughter.
“It’s been a real nightmare. It’s been a nightmare for my granddaughters and for my great grandson, the whole year has just been awful, and it’s really not going to get any better, it’s really not,” Hunter said.
Around 9 p.m. on July 20, 2020, Marie Golden and her boyfriend Erik Graff were stopped at the stop sign at the intersection of Laurel Airport Road and 72nd Street West on their motorcycle.
Buccelli, driving his vehicle behind them, failed to slow down as he came up to the stop sign and hit the back end of their bike at almost 80 miles an hour, throwing them both into the road. Marie was pronounced dead at the scene.
Buccelli fled the scene on foot. He was on the run for almost a month before he was arrested in Polson on August 14, but not before leading Polson Police officers on a high speed chase.
Buccelli plead guilty in February 2021 to vehicular homicide while under the influence and negligent vehicular assault.
“What I wanted to say to him, please don’t get up and tell any of us today that you are sorry, keep it, swallow it, hold it to yourself, we don’t want to hear it because sorry doesn’t walk the dog, and my granddaughters will never recover from this ever,” Hunter said.
Buccelli did make a statement to the court apologizing for his actions.
“I just can’t find that kind of forgiveness… I really can’t. He plead guilty, whatever, it doesn’t bring Marie back. There is never really any real closure for something like this,” Hunter said.
Marie’s mother did say she was very happy with the sentencing and thanked Judge Knisely and others who helped bring Buccelli to justice.
“None of it changes anything but it’s over and done and we don’t have to go through that again,” she said.
