Judge Claire Hill sentenced Rhonda Renee Sutton Bryant to
the maximum allowed by North Carolina state statutes for her crime as an F1
offender: 16 to 29 months in prison for permanently and catastrophically
injuring my husband. She starts at 29 months, but through good behavior she can
reduce her time to no less than 16 months.
It is my understanding that if Bryant had requested a trial,
and a jury found her guilty, then she would have likely ended up with a longer
sentence because they can determine whether one or more aggravating factors
exist, which certainly did, and a jury of our peers would react like everyone else
who hears our story — with appalled indignation. I bring this up because her
retained attorney requested that the judge mitigate her sentence because Bryant didn’t take it to
trial. What gall. She waited 17 months to plead guilty for a crime that had clear
harm and dozens of witnesses. He also argued for mitigation because she was
“just” .07, while the retrograde analysis showed she was high on coke when she
hit Jeremy and registered 0.1, as the district attorney submitted to the
court.
The National Transportation Safety Board recommends that all states lower the limit to .05 because that level is dangerous to operate a vehicle. The problem in North Carolina and elsewhere is that too many
people believe a .08 is not a big deal, when in fact it is a major public
safety issue because it is a scientifically significant and hazardous impairment. Drivers with a BAC between .05 and .07 are four to ten times as likely to kill someone than someone who hasn't been drinking. More than 100 countries in the world enforce a limit of .05 or less.
It is a social mindset that requires education and action to
change. Innocent people die. Intoxicated driving is preventable. The problem stems
from the decades-long fight getting the states to lower their limits to .08, so
people don’t realize that .08 didn’t go far enough to protect the public. The
struggle now is getting people to understand that .08 is a stepping stone to
.05, and it doesn’t need to take decades — we can make a difference much more
quickly by talking to our legislative representatives and asking them to submit
a bill to lower the limit. Also, insisting on the use of technologies such as ignition
interlock devices will help inhibit defense attorneys from keeping dangerous
drivers on our roads.
Are we happy with the sentence?
Yes: The sentence metes accountability of consequences for poor
choices to the fullest extent allowable within the framework of the state’s
legal system. We feel relief that this chapter is over, and we can move forward.
Also, my mind is not saddled with a lifetime of wonder about what more I could
have done to ensure justice.
No: The fight for justice was too hard and too long. Intoxicated
driving is not typically regarded as a serious or violent crime, as reflected
by the fact that MADD officials have seen thousands of cases with rarely the
maximum sentence imposed commensurate with the gravity of the fallout. There is
no sentence that can give Jeremy his legs and hand back. The district attorney
pointed out that our laws do not adequately cover this level of harm, that
“serious injury” can be a broken arm. Enforcement and penalties are seriously
lacking all over our country.
Mixed emotions: Wanting a person to go to prison is
uncomfortable…heavy and unpleasant. The pity I felt after seeing only Bryant’s pastor
there to support her was eviscerated afterward when I heard from a neighbor
that she had continued to drive intoxicated in our subdivision, at least once,
eight or nine months ago. We live a block from an elementary school, which made her crime especially frightening. Clearly there wasn’t a “switch that flipped” after
she harmed Jeremy, as her lawyer argued. I hope that prison teaches her a
lesson that Jeremy’s excruciating pain and suffering unfortunately could not. I
hope that her pastor helps her so that when she is released from prison, we won’t
have to be afraid of her recidivism.
Her year license suspension began the day of her sentence, which means she can drive when she gets out of prison.
Her year license suspension began the day of her sentence, which means she can drive when she gets out of prison.
It seems to me that Bryant would not have received the
maximum sentence without the mass of supporters and media in the courtroom, and
through the 30 victim impact statements we gathered, which the judge had agreed
to read in advance, all of which are in the public record, and most are published in a separate blog post here. Jeremy and I would not be doing nearly as well
without the support and love from the community, THANK YOU!!!
The best thing that came out of this
tragedy was the intimate awareness of the goodness, kindness, and generosity of
people in the wake of terrible events.
Community is unity, and unity
protects and serves us all.
Army Times published our story with many supportive comments on the Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/armytimes/posts/10152477881054497
http://www.armytimes.com/article/20140504/NEWS/305040013/After-9-deployments-sgt-maj-loses-legs-drunken-driver
"It is better to prevent crimes than to punish them." Cesare Beccaria
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