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Your Honor, I want to thank you for allowing me to take this opportunity to finally stand up and be recognized as a victim of this defendant who is a repeat drunk driver. This defendant has repeatedly, over the years, victimized the citizens of San Diego county, the citizens of surrounding counties, and her own, two small children, by making conscious decisions to abuse alcohol and drugs, load her children into the car, and take them on what I can only imagine, from my own encounter with her, to be terrifying, life threatening, enraged escapades. Numerous times, she has become violent towards other citizens, with no reasonable explanation and has become physically confrontational, putting the citizen, herself, and her children in harm’s way. She has constantly displayed behaviors, like the ones I witnessed on March 15, 2008: yelling obscenities, becoming physically violent, completely and totally disregarding anyone else’s safety during these violent acts. Not only was I one of these victims, I have had the opportunity to hear or read, in detail, her actions that have caused many other people to be afraid, intimidated, scared for their lives and those of their loved ones. These people include: Her own children, one who has been present and INJURED twice that I know of. Her other child was in her vehicle when she was found by a police officer slumped over the front seat, passed out from drinking, after she had wrecked so badly she had blown out the tires. Then she fought with police officers when they were trying to render her aid. This child was less than two years old. How traumatizing and terrifying for these precious, innocent, little lives. I wonder how often they question who will protect them and keep them safe from their own mother and her destructive and dangerous behavior. Another is a girl, 17 years old at the time, who was chased, threatened, and eventually punched in the face by the defendant, all while the defendant's child was present, witnessing his mother's actions. There are several grown men who have been victims of the defendant’s crazed behavior. While driving down the road, each one of them happened to encounter her only to end by having their property damaged, to be confronted with violence, either using her car in a threatening manner or her person (she went so far as to chest bump one gentleman). Sometimes these men were with their wives and were afraid of what the defendant would do to their loved one. These are just a few violent incidents that I know about. After all these years, these other victims were able to recount their incidents like they happened yesterday... stating, "I will never forget her face", "I was afraid for my life and that of my wife", "I didn't know what she was going to do next", and "I was scared". I often find myself feeling and saying these same things, and then some.I had an extremely difficult time trying to find the right words, to give this court an insight, into what the past 17 months have been like for me, my husband, my children, my extended family and my friends. We are all victims of this defendant and her actions on March 15, 2008 in that parking lot off Old Grove Road. I have physical symptoms: insomnia, nightmares, cold sweats, panic attacks, the inability to eat at times, fear of driving into ANY grocery store parking lot, fear of cars with tinted windows, even thinking I see the defendant everywhere I go. I have felt scared in my own neighborhood with my own children while I was just running errands. I wonder who will be out there and if they will be drunk, high, and violent towards us. I often wonder if it is safe to leave my own home each day. I have had to deal with my children being threatened by violence at school, their own fear of people following us, having their faces videotaped and photographed by the media, and the announcement of their father as a law enforcement officer, endangering them from those who do not support police officers. They have had to endure the hateful things the media and other citizens have said about their father and mother, when these people were speaking about us, without all the facts of the case. At times, they have been unable to sleep or felt stressed by all the things going on around us. Not to mention, they have lost out on their parents, and the fun things we used to do together, because of our depression, lack of sleep, or unwillingness to go out in public. That is 17 months of our lives that the defendant took from us and we can never get it back. Because of the defendant choices last year, everyone I know has been put under a tremendous amount of stress: physically, emotionally, and financially. I have lost my job as a police dispatcher. I have been financially ruined because of the defendant’s choice. I have spent my life savings and also had to cash out and spend my retirement fund to help support my family. My family and I have had to rely on the kindness and generosity of our extended family, friends, and citizens across the United States, to keep a roof over our head, food on the table, clothes on our growing boys, and pay our bills. I am changed forever. I am not and never will be the same person I used to be. I thank God everyday that my husband and I were not physically hurt by the defendant and that my children were not with us that night going to the grocery store. I will put my life back together. I will continue to fight off the attacks of this defendant in the court system and I will move on with my life. There is something I still don't understand. The thought of a woman, a mother, behaving this way is something I cannot comprehend. I cannot and will never understand endangering other citizens, let alone her children. As a mother and now a victim of this defendant, I have had an extremely difficult time trying to grasp one simple question about this entire nightmare of an ordeal, that question is "Why?" From the very first moments after my encounter with this defendant who was high, drunk, threatening, aggressive, and completely deranged, I started asking, "Why?" From “Why me?” to “Why us?” to “Why would someone try to hurt or kill us on our way to the grocery store? Why would someone want to take me away from my own two boys? Why would someone want to terrorize, harass, and chase me down in a parking lot when I hadn't done anything?” The more time has gone by, the more I have asked this question of numerous people around me. People who have dealt with repeat offenders, offenders who abuse alcohol and drugs. People are familiar with the criminal court system and they give me the same two answers. "Nobody knows why?" or "She doesn't even know why she made those choices because she was too high, drunk, and drugged out to even remember that night." I am not sure if she can't remember, refuses to remember, or is just a liar? Her media interview in April 2008 brings up those questions for me. The more I have tried to grasp being a victim of this woman, the more I have tried to understand what makes her put her own children in life and death situations by driving drunk and being on drugs, wrecking the vehicles they are in, sometimes on purpose. The more I learned about how these innocent children have been hurt by their own mother's actions, the more I am capable of understanding the defendants reasoning behind her choices. The more I have learned about her extensive criminal record, CPS referrals, the statements made by her own family members and the father of her child, the more I understand about this defendant. I am aware of her history of drunk driving and felony child endangerment. I am aware that the night she assaulted me, my loved one, and endangered her own child while committing yet another DUI offense, she was already on probation for her other criminal acts. I am aware that after March 15, this defendant was taken into custody for time sentenced for a previous conviction. So what is the message she is sending to this court? To me, it is that she doesn't care. She doesn't care about herself, the well being or lives of her children, the citizens of the State of California, or the power of this court. She does not care about her previous DUI's, DUS, drug usage, violent acts, crashes, endangering her children, endangering law enforcement officers, or law abiding citizens. She does not care about the terms of her probation or the ordered alcohol and drug rehabilitation the courts have ordered her too complete. She does not care if she goes to jail. She does not care about the leniency and mercy the courts have shown her thus far, by not holding her on BOND or having her serve longer jail time. How do I know this? Because she continues to do the same things, over and over, year after year, time and time again, continually victimizing her children and finding new victims to traumatize. The defendant has been in the system for years. She has a pattern of behavior and general disregard for the court orders that are imposed upon her. On March 15, 2008, the defendant was on probation for DUI and felony child endangerment. She was to surrender to jail and serve time already handed down to her. Does she change her ways? NO! She makes the same choices she has been making for years. She drinks, uses drugs, puts her child in the car, becomes enraged, violent, and threatens all the citizens of Oceanside that night, including myself. I want her to be held accountable for her choices. I want her to be held accountable for continually victimizing her children and law abiding citizens by her drunk driving. I am asking that this court impose the maximum sentence for the defendant to send her a message that we, as a society, will not tolerate this kind of behavior, that she can't disregard us anymore. That she can't leave more victims in her wake of criminal activity. That she can't disregard the terms of her probation and that the next time the punishment will be worse, much worse. I believe there will be a next time for this defendant. The father of her child has made statements that she is currently disregarding her court ordered rehabilitation, and is still drinking and using drugs. Are we going to let her hurt and possible kill another human being? If not herself, it could be her child, someone else's child, a loved one, or a police officer? I pray it won't be me or anyone hearing my voice today. Thank you. |
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