BAY MINETTE, AL – Melvin Dennis Hutcheson, convicted of criminally negligent homicide in February of 2014, has petitioned a Baldwin County judge for an early release.

Hutcheson made the appeal on April 20 and the judge has taken the motion under submission but has yet to make a ruling, the Baldwin County District Attorney’s office said.

His release date, according to jail records, is Sept. 9.

Hutcheson was scheduled for a court appearance on Sept. 9, 2015 in front of Judge Joseph Norton at 9 a.m. to file a motion pertaining to his conviction. It was denied and he was taken into custody after the hearing.

His original sentence in the case following his conviction in February 2014 was for one year, but he had been free pending the appeals process.

Hutcheson was sentenced on March 27, 2014, to 12 months in the Baldwin County Correctional Facility. He was released on an appeal bond on April 1.

Hutcheson was convicted of the Class A misdemeanor on Feb. 10, 2014, in the death of Hoeft on Feb. 21, 2012. The state code’s maximum for that crime is 12 months. Hoeft was struck and killed while bicycling on County Road 4 in Gulf Shores.

Citing his efforts to hide evidence afterward, Norton sentenced Hutcheson to the maximum term of 12 months.

“He did flee the scene, and I’m not talking about leaving the scene of the accident, but the flight and inference of guilty knowledge is inferred from flight and also the suppression of evidence,” Norton said before imposing the sentence. “The car was taken to north Alabama and I know there was testimony both ways about that, but I find it strangely unusual that Mr. Hutcheson, when he did find out about this, didn’t call his daughter or warn her about the fact that this car was being sought out by law enforcement officers. Those factors just give me grave concern.”

The jury found him innocent of the more serious charge, leaving the scene of an accident with death or injury, a Class C felony, which could have earned a maximum of 10 years in prison.

Hoeft was riding a recumbent bicycle on County Road 4 in Gulf Shores when he was struck and killed by Hutcheson’s black Ford Explorer. The vehicle was later found at his daughter’s house in Etowah County.

Prosecutors believe alcohol was a factor in the accident, saying Hutcheson had attended Mardi Gras parades and parties before the incident. Feb. 21, 2012, was Fat Tuesday, the traditional party to end the Mardi Gras season.

Saying he didn’t know what he had hit, Hutcheson kept driving after striking Hoeft and then dropped off a companion to pick up her car at the Publix on Alabama 59, west of the where the accident occurred.

It took police a few days to identify the type of vehicle that struck Hoeft from evidence gathered at the scene. The FBI Mobile office helped police with the analyzing and identifying of the parts, some found by Hoeft family members from Wisconsin.