Editor’s note: According to a letter from the Department of Public Safety, the charges of automobile homicide and driving under the influence of alcohol/drugs against Teisha Painter were expunged by the Bureau of Criminal Identification on Aug. 19, 2019.
PROVO — With her son's picture pinned on her jacket, Kristy Bowler stood before a judge Wednesday and announced it had been one year, nine months and five days since she last saw her son.
Aaron Newton was killed in a car crash caused by his friend drinking and then driving.
Teisha Painter, 21, was the driver and was charged with two third-degree felonies, one for driving under the influence of drugs and one for automobile homicide. She was ordered Wednesday to serve up to five years in the Utah County Jail and 36 months of probation. Both zero-to-five-year jail terms will be served concurrently.
Before the sentencing, Bowler begged the judge to consider a harsh punishment. She told of her son's charm and wit and said he liked to play games, watch movies and listen to music. These were just some of the things the family would miss about Aaron.
"Another family, another mother cannot go through this," Bowler said. "We as (Aaron's) family have been given a life sentence."
Painter had been driving with Newton, then 20, in the car when she hit another vehicle head-on on Sept. 19, 2007. While Newton was pronounced dead shortly after the accident, Painter survived and was in the hospital for several weeks recovering from injuries.
"Any death or injury is tragic," said Painter's attorney, Michael Esplin. "This one to (Painter) is more tragic in the way she feels with it because she and Aaron were best friends."
Since the accident, Painter has participated in a seven-month inpatient treatment for alcoholism and was still in the outpatient program in California until her sentencing Wednesday.
Esplin asked the judge to let Painter continue with the program until she completed all 12 steps before serving any time, but 4th District Judge Claudio Laycock said Painter had one week to report to jail.
The defendant's father, Patrick Painter, said the program helped his daughter tremendously and that it had made a visible difference.
"We've seen a big turnaround in her," he told the judge. "She is a completely different person."
Painter has also spoken about the negative effects of drinking and driving to other adults in hospitals and treatment centers who are addicted.
Newton's father, Steve, said he had been e-mailing Painter over the past several weeks and said he wanted to see Painter continue to help others and make the most out of her life by continuing her treatment. He said he thought that was what his son would have wanted.
But prosecutor Tim Taylor said Painter blamed the alcohol for what she did. Painter should have known the consequences of driving while impaired considering she had been ejected from a car after overdosing on oxycodone five weeks before the head-on crash, Taylor said.
Prosecutors and Newton's mother had suggested prison time, but Esplin said the trial wasn't just about punishment but about Painter changing her life.
"If your purpose for punishing the defendant is to make you feel better, that's not going to happen," Esplin said. "You are still going to have that loss — there is nothing to do to replace it. (Painter) has owned up to this, and she has gone through this process with the idea of trying to help others and make sure she doesn't and others don't (drink and drive)."
Along with the jail time and 36 months of probation, Laycock made it clear to Painter that she was not to have any alcohol on or near her during this time. She said Painter couldn't even live in a place where alcohol was present.
E-MAIL: slenz@desnews.com