Quote Originally Posted by HalfTangible View Post
Those of you who have been on the boards for for a while may remember that a few years ago, my bro's best friend (I called him Bill) got hit by a drunk driver. You may also recall that a couple months ago we went to a sentencing hearing that got cancelled because the defense lawyer was called into another county on a child sex case.

Well... the hearing was rescheduled for yesterday.

Yesterday was one of the worst days of my life (and considering the last couple of years include an uncle committing suicide, putting down 2 dogs, my mother losing the ability to walk for months, and a brain tumor, that's saying a lot)

Nothing prepares you to sit down at a sentencing hearing and listen to impact statements for a killed friend. His girlfriend kept crying throughout the entire hearing (partly because of survivor's guilt; his last act was to save her from the truck that hit him), my little brother still sounds like a broken man 3 years after the accident, the parents cried off and on through most of their own testimony...

The guy who hit him got 10 years of 'shock probation' or something like that? 6 months in prison, followed by 9 and a half years of strict probation if his behavior's good; if he violates it at any point he goes back for up to 20 years.

I genuinely hope the defendant cleans up so something *not* awful comes out of this mess.

But at least it's done. And Bill's parents said after that it was therapeutic to get up there and say what they did, so... yeah.

Don't drink and drive.
I'm truly sorry. That sounds like an awful day. I had a close friend who had a diabetic episode while driving and died from an accident, it must be much worse with the recklessness on the other side.