Karen Kirkwood knows the Legislature can't do anything to bring back her daughter, but it can do something to ensure drunken drivers who seriously injure others are brought to justice.
Kirkwood, mother of Rebecca Gallagher, testified in front of a Senate committee Thursday that state law should be changed to make it a felony instead of a misdemeanor to seriously harm someone by driving while intoxicated.Last November, the 28-year-old Gallagher died 11 days after she was struck by a vehicle driven by Juan R. Hernandez. Hernandez, a resident alien from Mexico, later admitted to driving while intoxicated. He faces up to five years in prison.
Initially, however, Hernandez was a free man. He was released from the Salt Lake County Jail after three days because Gallagher was still alive and his offense was considered a misdemeanor under current law. After Gallagher died, the police had to track him down.
If causing serious bodily injury while intoxicated or on drugs had been a felony, Kirkwood argued, Hernandez would not have been released at first.
And her family would have been spared the anguish of knowing Gallagher's killer could go unpunished.
"It's just too hurtful to the parents, the family members, to everyone (the victim) knew," Kirkwood told the committee.
Senate Minority Leader Scott Howell was asked to sponsor the bill by Gallagher's father, Alan Kirkwood, and the Utah chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving.
At Howell's request, the committee agreed to include a reference to SB63 as "Becky's bill." It then voted unanimously to send the bill on to the full Senate.
Kirkwood, moved to tears during her testimony, said afterward she hopes passage of the law will give meaning to her family's suffering.
"It won't help my daughter, but it will help other victims," she said.
The bill defines "serious bodily injury" as a permanent disfigurement or impairment of a body member or organ, or an injury that creates a substantial risk of death. The penalty for causing such an injury by driving while intoxicated would become a third-degree felony, resulting in a possible sentence of zero to five years in jail. The bill does not create a minimum mandatory sentence.
Mary Phillips, a MADD spokeswoman, told the committee that only Utah and Oregon do not recognize serious bodily injury caused by drunken driving as a felony.
No one spoke in opposition to the bill.
It is estimated the bill would lead to the imprisonment of three more people each year, and place six others on probation at a cost to the state correctional system of $73,900 the first year and $139,900 the second year.