Discussion Groups / English Usage / January 2004

" U.S. National - AP

Drunken Driver Told to Carry Coffin Photo    
Wed Jan 14, 8:41 AM ET  Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo!


BUTLER, Pa. - A woman who was drunk when she killed a man in a head-on
collision must carry a photograph of the teacher in his coffin as part of her
five years of probation, a judge ruled.

 

Jennifer Langston pleaded guilty in September to vehiclular homicide, reckless
endangerment and reckless driving.

Prosecutors said Langston was drunk and talking on a cell phone in June 2002
when she crossed the center line and hit a pickup truck carrying Glenn Clark
and his pregnant wife, Annette. He died, his wife remains in a coma and their
son, born by Caesarean section five months after the crash, is being raised by
relatives.

A judge sentenced Langston to 30 days in jail, plus house arrest and probation,
and ordered her to carry a picture of Glenn Clark.

But when Clark's mother provided the photo of Clark in a casket, Langston, 27,
objected. Her attorney said the "spirit of the agreement" was that the photo be
of Clark when he was alive.

"This makes no sense to me. Requiring Jennifer to carry a picture like that
defeats the whole purpose if the purpose is to look and remember," said
Langston's attorney, Michael Sherman. "Who in their right mind will look at
such a picture?"

Butler County Judge George Hancher ruled Tuesday that Langston would have to
carry the coffin photo.

Clark's mother, Rosellen Moller, has been unapologetic.

"That's where she put him — in a casket. That's what she did for him. I'd
just shut my mouth if I was her," Moller said. "

And you people support this sh.t?!  You ought to be ashamed!