Olivia's Statement

 Impact statement                                                                                                       Olivia Brown

In the last year, I have considered driving to Chase Jones's home dozens of times. I have wanted to ask him questions. I have wondered what is he like and what does he feel? Is he remorseful? Or does he just regret his choice on March 19th for its costs on himself? 

For the rest of my life, I will not know how to answer when someone asks me how many siblings I have. I will never play fiddle songs with my brother again, or bike around the neighborhood with him, or wash dishes while he loads them into the dishwasher.

For the rest of my mom’s life, she will mourn the boy she can no longer raise and watch grow up. 

My dad will never play basketball with his two sons on the court again. 

For the rest of his life, my brother Warner will live with the loss of his best friend and play mate.

My little sister Nora may not remember the brother I love and know. She will never develop more of a relationship with him. We will live forever with a big hole in the room every time we gather. 

The Hudson children will never be held or comforted or taught or fed or put to bed by their own mother again. For the rest of his life, Abe will live without his highschool sweetheart and lifelong friend, lovely Andrea. 

And the Wilcoxsons have lost their eldest daughters. For the rest of their lives, they will have to live without Matilda and Eloise, who were some of the best girls I’ve known. 

As for Buster, Andrea, Matilda, and Eloise, they don’t have any lives to live at all. Andrea will not raise her children. Buster, Matilda, and Eloise will never have families of their own.

Considering this, I can not see how any sentence Chase receives could make up for these losses. How could Chase have known what we would lose as he put full weight onto his gas pedal? 

Your honor, I want Chase to know the brother I knew. I want him to see Eloise and Buster jumping over a fence in the sunshine in the middle of a run last spring. I want him to see Andrea’s birthday cakes and Matilda’s potted plants on the windowsill. 

If I was the judge of this trial, I would sentence Chase to watching the recordings of the three funerals and revoke his license for life. I am not sure what amount of jail time will change him for the better, and not the worse, but it is most important to me that he never drives again and that he lives differently. I pray that Chase’s sentence will push him in a positive direction. And finally, I pray for you. I can not imagine being in your shoes, your honor. I can not imagine a more difficult trial or complicated circumstances. But in the end, I pray that you will be guided to the most merciful and just sentence- even if it pushes what is traditionally accepted in American courts.