Firehouse.com

A Delaware Superior Court judge ruled this morning that Paramedic Michelle Smith was acting as a firefighter when she was killed by a driver while tending to an injured man on the side of a highway late last year, according to The News Journal.

The ruling allowed paraplegic Joseph Taye -- who had been using a stick to work the vehicle's pedals -- to be found guilty of first-degree murder for his role in the Dec. 20, 2008 incident on U.S. 13 that resulted in the line of duty death of the Delaware City Fire Company fire responder.

Judge Jerome O. Herlihy determined that although Smith was not riding on the fire truck that responded to the scene and was not dressed as a firefighter, she qualified as a firefighter under the law because she had completed her training and had been designated a firefighter by her fire company, according to the newspaper report.

If Smith was ruled to be acting only as a first responder and not a firefighter the night she was killed, Taye would have been found guilty of the lesser offense of manslaughter.

While the first-degree murder conviction carries an automatic sentence of life in prison, a manslaughter conviction only would have carried a minimum of two years in prison and a maximum of 25 years.

Taye also was found guilty of manslaughter, first-degree assault, reckless endangering, leaving the scene of an accident and driving with a suspended license.

During the ruling, dozens of first responders from the area packed the courtroom and following the verdict a small cheer came from Smith's family, the News Journal reported.

Dave Carpenter Jr., a spokesman for the Delaware City Fire Company, called the ruling a landmark for first responders in the state.

"It sets a precedent for defining a firefighter," he said. 

On June 31, Delaware Gov. Jack A. Markell signed into law the Michelle Smith's Law which adds paramedics, EMTs, fire marshals and fire police officers to a list of first responders whose death can result in a first-degree murder charge.