A White Father has been sentenced because he honestly thought that letting his non-driver's licensed daughter, DRIVE AROUND, WAS A GREAT IDEA!
-_-
Till she lost control of the suburban, a SUBURBAN? Who in their right fuckin mind is letting a high school girl with NO LICENSE drive a FUCKIN SUBURBAN!
Here is the article;
Prison for 'reckless' dad in deadly Poconos crash
(From left) Cullen Keffer, Shamus Digney and Ryan Lesher. (Facebook photos)
HONESDALE, Pa. - As she addressed the defendant in the packed courtroom, Lisa Lesher choked back tears.
"Your decision to be the 'cool dad' devastated our community," the Bucks County mother told Michael Ware. "How could a father allow this?"
Ware had acknowledged sometimes letting his unlicensed teenage daughter drive. But when he gave the 15-year-old the keys to his SUV last Labor Day weekend, it set in motion a chain of events that ended with the vehicle overturned on a winding Poconos road, three Bucks County boys dead, and an indelible impact on multiple communities.
On Thursday, a Wayne County Court judge sentenced the 54-year-old Scarsdale, N.Y., man to 78 to 192 months in state prison. Though not the maximum, the punishment was still at least six times longer than what Ware's attorney had argued was fair.
During a fiery monologue, President Judge Raymond Hamill repeatedly ripped into Ware, calling him "irresponsible, reckless, stupid, and selfish," and ultimately responsible for the deaths of Ryan Lesher, Shamus Digney, and Cullen Keffer, all rising sophomores at Council Rock High School South.
"Your failure to be a father and say no caused these tragic deaths," the judge said, at times flailing his arms in disgust.
Hamill spoke before a courtroom crowded with observers, including dozens who drove nearly three hours from lower Bucks to Honesdale to see what is likely to be the final chapter in the criminal case.
Ware had previously pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and reckless endangerment, and was facing up to 21 years in prison.
"I can only say that hopefully, today brings some form of closure," Ware said in a brief statement before being sentenced. "May the boys rest in peace."
His daughter Julia, now 16, was placed on indefinite probation in May and ordered to pay $24,000 restitution after accepting responsibility - the Juvenile Court equivalent of a guilty plea - to vehicular homicide charges. Her parents are divorced.
On the morning of Aug. 30, she and a 15-year-old friend were at her father's house near Lake Wallenpaupack, east of Scranton. When the girl asked if she could go out for breakfast, Ware gave her the keys to his Chevrolet Suburban and a request: He wanted her to bring back a breakfast sandwich for him.
The younger Ware then picked up Lesher, Digney, Keffer, and another Council Rock boy, who were staying at the Leshers' property at Wallenpaupack Lake Estates.
On the way back from the meal, Julia Ware lost control of the SUV while speeding through a sharp downhill curve. At the bottom of the hill, it flipped and rolled multiple times. One witness described hearing screeching tires, smashing metal, and shattering glass.
Keffer, of Holland, was dead at the scene. Digney, also of Holland, and Lesher, of Churchville, died that afternoon at Geisinger-Community Medical Center in Scranton. Two of the boys who died were not wearing seat belts, police said.
The Council Rock boy who survived was also unbuckled. He and the two girls were treated at area hospitals.
Nearly a year later, the pain is still fresh for the victims' parents. One by one on Thursday, they addressed the defendant.
Joe Keffer, Cullen's father, said Ware had robbed the family of decades of joy, and said he was unsure he would be able to forgive him.
"I reserve hate for the most egregious things I see in this world," he said. "And Mr. Ware, I hate you."
The judge ripped into Ware for letting his daughter lie on his behalf and initially take the blame for the accident. When police attempted to reach him for questioning, Hamill said, Ware failed to cooperate.
His role was discovered only because Ware's friend alerted police two months after the crash.
"You never spoke the truth," Hamill said. "And you left your daughter to bear this alone."
Shamus Digney's father, Chuck, said those actions were among the most unforgivable.
"I don't think you can call yourself a dad," he said to Ware. "A real dad would step up and take care of his child no matter what."
His attorney, Robert Reno, called the sentence "ridiculous" and said he planned to appeal it. He was seeking a prison sentence of one to two years followed by probation, arguing that Ware did not know his daughter would pick up the boys.
As Ware was led from the courtroom in handcuffs, audience members slowly filed out, hugging and wiping tears from their eyes.
Julia Ware did not attend the sentencing. Ed Lesher, Ryan's father, said after the hearing that she got off too easy. He said he planned on filing a petition to have Julia Ware retried as an adult.
Outside the courthouse, Wayne County District Attorney Janine Edwards said the case "is absolutely a message to any parent who thinks it's OK to break the law."
Keffer said it was too soon to discern much meaning from the events. "I don't really know what closure is," he said. "We're going to be miserable for the rest of our lives."
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