Yesterday, Drake Brezina, who was facing potentially 15 years in prison for killing a woman when he went through a red light while texting, was sentenced to five years probation instead.
Vanessa Miller in The Gazette:
Ultimately, [Judge Chad Kepros] said, prison wouldn’t offer the maximum opportunity for rehabilitation — nor was it necessary for community protection. Imposing supervised probation for five years instead, Kepros took the extra step to ensure Brezina follows through on his commitment to share his story.
“I generally don’t order community service as a part of a suspended sentence, in fact I don’t remember ever doing it,” Kepros said. “But in this instance, the court believes that Mr. Brezina can potentially have a positive influence on the community by speaking about these events, the dangers of distracted driving, texting and other forms of distracted and impaired driving as a major problem in our society.”
Abolition: Yes! 