The man who brutally beat a trucker while parked overnight in a small-town Idaho truck stop was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison Jan. 22.
Former driver Amos Phillips said he attended the sentencing of Stormy Ray Adakai, 24, in U.S. District Court in Pocatello, Idaho. The attack took place Sept. 3, 2018, and Adakai confessed to the incident that November.
Stormy Adakai, left, and Amos PhillipsPhillips said Adakai, of Fort Hall, Idaho, was ordered to pay him $51,000 in restitution and also to pay the Idaho Crime Victims Compensation Program $13,000. Phillips said Adakai, who is unable to pay now, will be required to work upon his release and then put at least 10% of his wages toward the two levies.
Summarizing Adakai’s statement at the hearing, Phillips said: “All he was saying is woe is me, he’s been having battles with alcoholism, he started drinking at age 10, and he’s 24 now. He said I wouldn’t have broken into a man’s truck if I hadn’t been drunk. The judge said, ‘I don’t want to hear that. You had enough sense to break into the truck. You should’ve known not to.’”
Phillips said he was awoken, then Adakai demanded money and, with rocks in his hands, beat him inside the cab. His injuries included broken bones and a brain hemorrhage, causing seizures.
Phillips also recounted his statement at the sentencing: “This man has turned my life upside down. My wife now has to work, whereas she didn’t before. He ended my career.” Even after months of recovery, Phillips, 65, continues to take medication that prevents him from commercial driving.
Adakai never apologized directly to him, Phillips said, but told the judge, “I should’ve known better that to do what I did.”
Phillips and his wife live in Camdenton, Missouri. At the time of the attack, he was driving for JWE Inc., a small fleet based in Camdenton.
The beating took place at the TP Truck Stop. The Fort Hall Reservation is home to the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes, who operate the truck stop on I-15 just north of Pocatello.
