Preparing for Sentencing

Well we are knee deep in our preparations for sentencing. We meet with a probation officer yesterday, who will complete a report and make a recommendation to the judge. Meeting went well, he indicated that based upon the evidence he had heard he felt comfortable recommending more than the presumptive of 10.5. So, in other words, he is going to recommend more than 10.5 years to the judge. Prior to the meeting, he asked for us to provide him with written statements. That was very difficult, but in the end a relief.

I was impressed with my husband's simple but sweet words. This is what he wrote:

My name is David H. Kriser. I am the husband to a wounded wife. I am the son of a dead mother. All this because of a drunk man. I would like to convey some of my feelings on these statements.

When I say wounded wife, I mean just that. I have had to watch my beautiful wife literally wither away. Her body has taken a devastating blow. She is weak and frail. Her eating habits have almost ceased. She does not sleep or rest really at all. These are all physical and can heal. What I fear the most and literally dread is the affect this has had on her soul. I wish I had the ability to describe my wife’s inner light. The woman I met, courted and fell deeply in love with is but a shell of her former glory. I truly do mean glory. Angel could light up a room with a smile as broad as any I have ever seen. I married a strong, confident woman; one with purpose and drive. Now she is a wounded shell of all that I knew. I am a husband to a wounded wife.

You did not have the pleasure of meeting Marge (who I affectionately referred to as Margie) Weeks, if you had you would not have been the same. I know myself and countless others could attest to that. I met Margie 6 years ago when her daughter and I started dating. I feel in love with two women at that time. I was almost instantly accepted and loved by this woman. I watched with adoration how Margie interacted with people. Her capacity to love and understand people amazed me. She could find good in all people. I watched her tenderly care for a husband who is slowly deteriorating in Alzheimer’s. The light of Christ was in Margie and shown through. I saw the Grandmother who came home from work tired and weak only to play with her grandbabies. Grandbabies who will more than likely not remember the Matriarch of their mother’s line. It was my honor and privilege to be called her son. I am the son of a dead mother.

I sit here to write this all because of a drunk man! A drunk man who did not start his day this way but ended Margie’s life that way. A sober man who decided because of no work on December 17, 2007, he and another man would consume 3 times the legal limit of alcohol, at least 20 miles from his home. A sober man who did not think beyond his own selfish desire or the safety of anyone around him, by not arranging transportation home. Why would he? He had his own vehicle to drive. Although by his own admission he would not have jeopardized the life of his child by putting him in the vehicle, but everyone else on the road was expendable. I don’t see how, as a father myself, anyone could set that kind of example for their child. It appears to me that this man is not suitable to be a father to a son. To teach him what he needs to be a strong, stable, discussion maker. So for the sake of his children, mine and possibly yours, please confine this man to the maximum of 14 years in a penitentiary. All this because a sober man felt he needed to be a drunk man. My name is David H. Kriser husband to a wounded wife, son of a dead mother, all because of a drunk man.