Outcome of hearing

This is going to be a long one:

So, what can I say about the hearing? I expected something different. I had so much anger b/c of the obvious but also b/c I felt like Alan Mompoint was living his life, free, as if nothing had happened.
I was so nervous about saying what I was going to say to the judge in front of everyone in the courtroom. Before Alan and his family arrived, before the judge even came out of his chambers, I was crying. I was overcome w/emotion. I was scared, I was nervous, I felt like I was reliving all of the pain all over again. I was scared to look at Alan, the person who's actions killed Steve.
I was also scared b/c all this time, these last 2 years, I wanted to forgive Alan. I wanted to feel it in my heart to do so. It scared me so much that I didn't feel it. I know that Steve would've wanted me to also. I was afraid that I was losing God b/c I didn't feel it in my heart to forgive Alan.
When Judge Will came out, my family members and I addressed him and Alan. Here's what I said:
On the evening of my daughter Ciana’s 11th birthday, just three short weeks ago, she came to me crying. When I asked her what was wrong, she said she was praying, asking God to bring Daddy to her in her dreams and that made her miss him more. How do I comfort her when I feel the same way? We have had several times like these when she’s sad, crying to me that she misses Daddy. What am I supposed to tell her? Daddy’s never coming back. There is nothing I can do to take away her pain of missing him. Nothing anyone can do will take away these painful facts!

FACT: Alan Mompoint is sitting in this court room today with his family by his side. He is alive & well, breathing and healthy.

FACT: It is because of him that we are here. It is because of him that my husband is dead. It is b/c of him that Ella will never know her father! She will be a different person simply b/c of not having her father in her life. She was only 11 months when her father was killed!

Steve’s death certificate says that the cause of his death was “Multiple Blunt Force Injuries.” When I received his autopsy report from the medical examiner’s office, the cause of death was explained in detail. Allow me to elaborate on these “injuries.”

In his chest:
- Laceration of pericardium
- Transection of aortic arch
- Contusions of both lungs with laceration of left lung
- Laceration of left diaphragm with protrusion of stomach into the left chest cavity
- Bleeding into his lungs
- All left ribs were broken

In his abdomen and pelvis:
- Abrasions of left side of abdomen
- Lacerations of liver
- Massive lacerations of spleen
- Pelvis fractured, comminuted (pelvis crushed into a # of pieces).
- Laceration of urinary bladder
- Contusion of left hip

In his brain:
- Subarachnoid hemorrhage, right parietal lobe

My husband did not have a fighting chance! Most any one of the single “injuries” listed below can kill someone. Every one of Steve’s major organs was obliterated. His broken ribs served as small knives inside within him and annihilated every life sustaining organ in his body!

I have had several people warn me that because Alan Mompoint is so young and has no prior arrests, no record and no tickets that he may not receive the punishment suitable for the crime he committed. I ask myself if his not having a prior record make the severity of this crime any less serious. In my eyes it’s just as bad, if not worse. Why is my husband’s death being discounted by Alan Mompoint being a “good kid?” If he was a good kid, like some might say, how could he have acted so recklessly and disregardingly? And if he doesn’t receive the suitable punishment, what does that tell any other 17 year old with no record in today’s society?

While some young men, like Alan Mompoint choose to race their cars down residential streets knowing the ramifications of those actions, other young men choose to do good and give of themselves selflessly. My husband was one of those men. He gave himself selflessly when he served in the US Air Force. After several years, he again gave of himself selflessly which was evident in his chosen profession of Speech Language Pathology where he treated elderly patients who suffered from dementia, Alzheimer’s disease or had been victims of strokes. Those are just to name a few.

We were blessed enough that I was able to stay home with the children while Steve worked to support our family. Again, proof of how he lived his life selflessly. Now that he is gone, I have been forced to take on a job and both of my children have had to be placed in daycare or extended day care. Due to my having to work, my children are away from home for about 10 hours each day! I am no longer available to chaperone field trips, volunteer at their schools or pick them up from school. My oldest daughter has become a “latch key kid!”

Your honor, my life, my children’s lives and those of our family will never be the same b/c of this horrible tragedy that could’ve been so easily avoided! Even if Alan Mompoint were sentenced today to life in prison, it will never bring Steve back!

Alan Mompoint will have to accept the punishment that is given to him for the crime he committed. However, eventually, he will be free and still alive. He will be able to go on with his life, meet a woman, fall in love, get married and possibly have children of his own. Steve was that love of my life, we have children but his life ended due to Alan Mompoint’s recklessness and lack of regard for anyone’s safety.

Your honor, I am pleading that you put yourself in my position. What would you do if your spouse was killed in the same manner in which my husband died? Please let justice be served. Alan Mompoint needs to learn a lesson. He needs to be punished for his irresponsibilities. A slap on the wrist would be like a slap in the face to me, my family & my husband’s honor.

The Bible says in Romans 13: 1-5:
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God’s servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God’s servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience.

I only pray that today, your honor, that you are the authority established by God, His servant, and will see to it that the wrongdoer is punished.

Thank you.

It wasn't until I was reading the list of injuries that Steve sustained that I looked up and into Alan's eyes and felt it. He looked like he couldn't listen to another word. My heart softened for him. Instead of reading this angrily, I felt like Alan had to hear it and just accept it.

Alan's mom and sisters had a chance to talk too. A man from Daytona Beach college also spoke on Alan's behalf. Then came Alan. Why was I feeling so sorry for him? He's the one that caused all of this. But I couldn't help it. I felt bad for him. I truly believed him when he said he was sorry over and over and over again. He was so remorseful. I knew at that moment that Steve would've forgiven him if it would've been me. Alan needed to be forgiven. And I was so thankful that my heart finally forgave. When Alan sat back down next to his attorney, he turned to me, looked right at me and said "I'm so sorry."

Alan was tried as an adult. He pled guilty to vehicular homicide. He was sentenced right then & there. The sentence is as follows:

• 3 1/2 years in state prison
• Probation for 10 years
• community service: 250 hours per year
• has to make presentations to high school freshmen & sophomores talking about what happened and has to read a few of the letters from our friends/family (our suggestion)
• has to serve in nursing homes (our suggestion so that he can see the type of place Steve worked in and gave selflessly of himself.)
• cost of investigation
• cost of prosecution
• drivers license suspended and/or revoked
• letter of apology to us
• restitution served
• attend school full time, must obtain bachelors degree
• if not in school full time, must have a full time job

Alan and his family mentioned several times starting a foundation for my girls to raise money for them to have for their educations. Although it wasn't part of his sentence, Judge Will said he thought it was a great idea and he thinks Alan should "take care of the kids."

Once Alan was sentenced, hugged his mom and sisters goodbye, they took him away. After that, what happened was wonderful. Both sides, our family and Alan's, came together. Everyone crying, hugging, talking.

I feel good about the outcome. I would like to go see Alan and talk to him eventually. I just feel that tugging on my heart now. I don't know why but I just do. Maybe I'll know when I see him again. I pray that something good comes out of all of this bad! I pray to God that it does.

Front page news - newsjournalonline.com

Front page news - newsjournalonline.com

Posted using ShareThis


Just in case that link becomes inactive, here's the story printed:

January 08, 2010

Sentencing in fatal wreck brings 'outpouring of humanity'

By JAY STAPLETON
Staff writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- In a rare moment of shared courtroom emotion, the family of a DeLand man killed in a crash in 2008 embraced family members of the teenager responsible for his death.


Mompoint
The defendant, 19-year-old Allen Mompoint, was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison Thursday and a 10-year probation that included a requirement to earn a bachelor's degree.

"He had a lot of forgiveness," widow Karla Mitchell said of her husband, Stephen Blain Mitchell, who died Jan. 17, 2008, when his car was struck by Mompoint, 17 at the time, on Division Avenue in Ormond Beach.

"We are Christians, we believe in forgiveness. And we believe in good coming out of bad."

Mompoint, now 19, pleaded no contest to vehicular homicide for the reckless crash that killed Mitchell, a 35-year-old speech pathologist. The teen, who had no prior criminal record, was driving at more than twice the posted speed limit of 25 mph -- and blew through a stop sign at Grove Street -- when he slammed into the driver's-side door of Mitchell's Honda Accord.

Mitchell's stepfather, Nico Ratsma of Mt. Dora, said, "He was wearing his seat belt, but he didn't have a chance."

Mitchell's widow said they'd been married "not even two years." Their daughter was only 11 months old at the time.

Those who loved the man who loved helping others -- and surfing -- said he would have wanted forgiveness for Mompoint's mistake.

"His silly actions got all of one family in eternal sadness and despair," Ratsma said. "And his family, for the next 3 1/2 years, at least, as a result."

The sentence was left up to Circuit Judge Joseph Will. While the charge carried up to 15 years in prison, the suggested sentencing guidelines called for just over about nine years in prison, considering Mompoint had no prior criminal history.

Apologizing ahead of time for a sentence that was bound to leave people on both sides of the courtroom unhappy, Will said Mompoint's remorse and age were reasons nine years was excessive. At the same time, he said he didn't think a sentence of probation as a youthful offender was adequate for the crime.

"When we try to define justice and fairness, we could spend the rest of this afternoon and not come to an agreement," Will said. "This isn't an easy decision for me."

Considering dozens of letters he read from members of both families, Will sentenced Mompoint to prison, to be followed by 10 years' probation. Mompoint is prohibited from driving while on probation, and must obtain a bachelor's degree, the judge said.

"You are to complete 250 community service hours per year, and give 10 presentations to high school students. I want you to explain to them the loss you caused, and the loss you suffered."

A letter of apology to Mitchell's family was also ordered by the judge.

Before he was led away to begin his sentence, Mompoint was permitted to hug his parents. The two families then turned to each other in long, tearful embraces.

"Forgiveness is separate from consequence," Mitchell's sister, Shawn Lundberg, said. "When you have forgiveness, reconciliation is possible. You can cross the aisles, and embrace one another."

As one courtroom observer said, "It was an amazing outpouring of humanity."

jay.stapleton@news-jrnl.com

Sentencing Hearing

It's this Thursday, January 7 @ 1:30pm. 251 N. Ridgewood Ave. Daytona Beach, FL 32114. Courtroom #4.

Thank you to those of you who sent letters addressed to the judge. I hope that he considers everything that we have said about Steve!

Thank you for your continued support and prayers! We certainly appreciate it!

Letters

I feel so frustrated! I feel like I'm doing everything I can to get through to people & ask them to send letters that I can give to the judge. I have only received ONE!
I guess when the tragedy is new to so many, they act all concerned and offer to do whatever they can. Almost 2 years has gone by and people forget. Everyone else goes on living their lives and they forget. They don't have to deal with the loss every day. It's different for them.
I just hope that with what my family and I have to say to the judge, it'll be enough.

A long overdue update

Well, several months have passed since I've given any updates and I'm sorry for that. I had been so frustrated with the same thing, month after month; a pretrial hearing & then a continuance.

Last month, I received a call from Melissa Clark's office asking if my mother in law and I can come in for a meeting w/Melissa b/c the defense had an offer that they wanted to present to us. So, as my mother in law and I had done several times before, we drove to Daytona Beach, with Ella and met with Melissa Clark.

Before Melissa gave us the offer that the defense had, she prefaced by saying that even though he was being tried as an adult, "more than likely" he would be considered a youthful offender. The maximum sentence for a youthful offender is 6 years, total. Meaning any combination of jail and/or probation. The defense's offer was 4 years total: 2 years jail, 2 years probation. She also said that we should take into consideration that if he is well behaved, he would probably only serve about 85% of his sentence. So, not even a full 2 years in jail??? Really? Well, guess what? I interrupted her politely and told her "NO." It's been almost 2 years since Steve was killed! It feels like a lifetime ago and yet it feels like just yesterday I walked out of my house and yelled "I love you" to my husband before leaving. FOUR years is not something that I am going to agree with.

Melissa said that we can say no all together or we can counter offer. Well, we counter offered with 8 years (even though max for youthful offender is 6 years), 4 and 4. I told Melissa what our counter offer was and she said she would present it to the defense. She called me right back and said that the defendant was more than likely going to plea open. I've learned that this basically means that he's going to enter his plea to the judge with no deal on the table. After that conversation, we agreed that she'd call me back once they went to the next pretrial hearing, which took place last week.

On Friday, the 13th, I got a voice message from Melissa saying that Allen Mompoint entered an open plea and that the sentencing hearing was scheduled for Thursday, January 7 at 1:30pm. She asked me to call her back so she can tell me what this all means and to make sure that all of our questions are answered.

I called Melissa back today. Here's what's going to go down. Like I said before, the hearing is on 1/7/10 (10 days before the 2 year anniversary of Steve's death, by the way!), this is when we get to address the judge and say what we want to say. The defendant and his family will have the same opportunity on this day. She warned me that Allen Mompoint will probably be crying and be very remorseful. His family will talk about him being a good student, a model child and whatever other bull shit they can say.

I asked Melissa if the judge will have all of the information about the case, the accident, what happened, etc. She said she knows he will have the police report which outlines the crash and the speeds the defendant was going. [A quick side note: in the police report, it is stated that the defendant was going 45 mph! The accident reconstruction expert said that at the time of impact, his car into Steve's, he was going about 50 to 55mph!! I wonder if the judge will have that info!] She did however say that she wasn't sure if the judge will have the info that states that there was almost 2 feet of intrusion into the car (into Steve) from the crash! Little bits of info like that may or may not be read by the judge!

The judge will have two different reports. By what I understood, they are reports about Allen Mompoint. Things like how far he'd gone in school, any prior arrests if any, tickets, did he serve in the military, is he married, does he have children, etc. There's a recommendation on one as to what his sentence should be if he's tried as a juvenille (which he isn't) and the other is a recommendation as to what his sentence should be if he's tried as an adult/youthful offender. Please don't quote me on this b/c I'm not sure if I understood her correctly.
So, basically, it's up to us to make sure the judge knows all those same things about Steve.

Let's think about this for a minute and maybe compare a little:
How far Steve went in school: Masters Degree obtained, going back for PhD
Prior arrests: NONE
Tickets: One b/c he didn't change lanes in time when a cop had someone else pulled over. The ticket was dismissed.
Did he serve in the military: United States Air Force!
Was he married: Uh, yeah.
Children: Beautiful baby Ella and he took Ciana on as his own!

So, because Steve's immediate family is rather large, we will probably be the only ones that will have the chance to actually speak to the judge directly on that day. However, this is what I am asking anyone and everyone: PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE! Write a letter to the judge! Talk to him about Steve, who he was to you, how he affected your life, how he made an impact, how much he is missed, anything! I am asking that you all send these letters to me. Email me or send them in the mail. I would like to have these letters delivered to the judge so that he can read through them prior to the sentencing hearing! I want to make a statement!!! Steve had over 300 people at his funeral! It would really say a lot, in my opinion, if the judge received 300 letters talking about Steve and what a great loss we have all suffered in having lost him!

Please get in contact with me. I will give you my email address or my mailing address and please send me something, anything. We are pleading with this judge to allow justice to be served and for Allen Mompoint to receive just punishment for his recklessness!

We have waited almost 2 years and this will be the only time that we will have the chance to be heard. Please help me fight for this, in Steve's honor! I need everyone's help!

Thank you so much! Thank you for continually being so supportive and keeping us in your thoughts and prayers! It means more than you know. We need those prayers.

motion hearing

I just heard on the news about a pair of sisters that recently appeared in court, being accused of a string of purse snatching with some violence involved. Their bond was set at $75,000 each!!! Isn't our justice system amazing?? $75,000 bond for a bunch of purse snatchers! And Alan Mompoint's bond was set at only $2,000! He took a life! Wow!

Anyway, I recently received my usual form letter from the state attorney's office. However, this one is a little different:

Re: State vs. Allen L Mompoint
Case No.: 2008-35229CFAES
ASA: Melissa L Clark

Dear Karla Mitchell:

This is to inform you that a hearing for the above named defendant has been scheduled for a MOTION HEARING on 7/31/2009 at 10:30 AM. If you have received a subpoena for this hearing, you must attend. Otherwise, your attendance is not mandatory. However, the Assistant State Attorney may request your presence.

In order to keep you informed regarding your case, please notify us promptly of any change of address or phone number.

If you have any questions, please contact the Assistant State Attorney or the Victim Notification Office

VICTIM ADVOCATE SERVICES

That's all. I'm not even sure what a motion hearing is. I'll have to make another phone call to find out. I just want this all to be overwith!!!

Gone too soon

I was watching some of the Michael Jackson memorial and couldn't help but think of Steve the entire time. I was saying to myself, as I'm sure everyone is, "I can't believe Michael Jackson is dead." At the same time, as I've been doing for almost a year and a half, I keep saying "I can't believe Steve is gone."

It hurts me to see his family mourning. It takes me right back to the day Steve was taken from us. It took me back to the night in the funeral home, sitting in the front row, staring at my husband's 6'2", 195lb body laying in a coffin that was too small for him; not looking anything like the Steve that we knew. It took me back to the day at the church when Billy had to literally hold me up as another member of the United States Air Force handed me Steve's flag & saluted it.

If you haven't gone through this, which I don't wish on anyone, the pain is more than emotional. There are many times when my body aches. I just miss him, his being, his voice, his smile, his goofiness, everything. And it physically hurts to know that he will never be back. There is nothing anyone can do to bring him back to us. It hurts so much.

So, updates on the case? Nothing much. Another pretrial taking place this week. I was told that we'd more than likely be going to trial this month but b/c there were so many conflicts w/people's schedules, they're going to try for next month.

If you are following this blog & live locally, please feel free to come to the trial!! It is open to anyone! Once I have a date & time, I will definitely let everyone know.

The girls are both growing so quickly! They make me so happy and I am such a proud mommy! Ella is talking so much more now and her favorite response to me, unfortunately, is "no mommy." But I know it will pass. Steve would be very proud of both of our girls!

You are always in our hearts & thoughts, Steve. Words cannot describe how much we miss you, corazon!

This picture is from Ciana's 9th b/day party. It was less than a month before Steve's accident.