Defendant Dylan Meyer was in the Greene County Jail a year ago when hewrote a letterto a buddy. He'd been there twomonths after killinga 38-year-old Springfield woman while driving drunk.
"This has been an eye-opener for sure," he wrote. "There's nothing in the world worth coming in here for. Hopefully my friends have learned a lesson to (sic). Jail (expletive) sucks. Sucks! It sucks (that) I'm not going to be able to enjoy this summer!"
I don't see remorse in his words and I don't seepotential for redemption, which, I admit, is harder to detect through mortal eyes.
I understand that Meyerwas only 20 at the time. But young men and women serve their country at an even younger age.
His letter made me angry at not only Meyer but atCircuit Judge David C. Jones, as well.On Feb. 19, Jones sentencedMeyer to five years' probation. He could have sent Meyer to prison for 5 to 15 years.The prosecutor has asked for 10. Meyer had been charged with involuntary manslaughter.
The sentence was a "slap on the wrist," says Dan Patterson, Greene County prosecuting attorney.
Meyer, a 2012 graduate of Kickapoo High School,took the life of Kelly Williams in the early morning of Feb. 10, 2015. Heslammed his pickup into hercar at Campbell Avenue and Battlefield Road. He was driving 95 mph, according to police,when he ran a stoplight.
Hisblood alcohol level was .266 percent, three times the legal limit — a level where many can no longer walk.
Toxicology results showed the presence of cannabinoids, which is found in marijuana.
Meyer's attorney says her client was so drunk— in addition to being injured — that he has no recollection of what happened.
It's my sense that people throughout Springfield —and beyond —are asking why Judge Jones chose probation.
My wife pastors a small church in Billings, and parishioners were asking that question at the weekly Bible study.I went to the lunch room at work, and co-workers from other departments were talking about it.
One reader called and requestedthat I write about this case —which I had already decided to do. Another called to ask how to remove a judge from office.
(So you know, you can't recall a judge because you dislike a ruling or sentence. Aseated judge does not face election under the nonpartisan court plan in Greene County. In November 2014, voters retained Judge Jones. He will be upfor a retention vote in 2020, at age 68. Mandatory retirement is70.)
I have been a reporter for 40 years and although I understand prison rarely turns a life around,I am dumbfounded why the judge chose this sentence for thisdefendant and this set of horrific facts.
With that said, it's also my job to try to have an informed opinion. Solet me share withyouwhat I've learned about the case.
The sentence
Meyer, technically, was sentenced to 10 years in prison. But Judge Jones suspended that sentence andput him on probation. If he violates probation, he goes to prison for 10 years and must serve85 percent of that time.
It's my opinion, judgingfrom Meyer's written wordssince his arrest, he is likely toviolate probation. Also, he was already on probation the night of the crash. I'll get to that later.
Part of Meyer's April 2015 letter to his buddyincludes this:"I cannot wait to get out and play some Xbox. One of the first things ima do is go to Sonic and spend like $40 on food, roll a joint and go home and play my Xbox. haha! Some things never change."
Some things better change. Otherwise, he's going to kill someone else.
Since the Feb. 19 sentencing, Judge Jones has not responded to repeated media requests to explain why he sentenced Meyer to probation.I have left several messages for him.
To be fair, the judge explained his decision in open court at the hearing. Unfortunately, no one from the media was there to hear it. No one expected the judge would sentence Meyer to probation.
I have tried several times to contact the court reporter who works in Jones' courtroom. She could have provided me with a transcript of what the judge said. She did not reply to phone calls and an email.All I'masking for is what thejudge hasalready said in open court.
But even if I had been in thecourtroom at sentencing, I might not have heard what was said.
Judy Williams, 67, was there. She is the mother of Kelly Williams, who was killed.She's not sure what the judge said.
"It was very hard to hear," she says. "I had friends with me and they had trouble hearing him, too. He's very soft-spoken."
The mother thinks the judge might have said something about Meyer's youth as a factor in the sentence.
I cannot imagine the frustration ofattending the sentencing hearing for the man who killed your child and not being able to hear what the judge said.
Maybe it's just that judges don't ask, "Can everyone hear me?"
Maybe they should.
A difficult decision
Callie Moench, a public defender who represented Meyer, sat closer to Judge Jones than Judy Williams and herfamily did.
Moenchtells me she heard what the judge said. She was hesitant to tell me because she did not want to speak for the judge and because, according to her, media members should have been there in the first place.I pleaded with her.
"He expressed that he had a lot of difficulty in making the decision," Moench says. "He said he had lost sleep over it. He made statements about his concerns for both Kelly's family and Dylan's family. He expressed a lot of things. And yes, he mentioned the defendant's young age."
In an email, Moench outlined why she believes probation was an appropriate sentence.
First, she says,Meyer apologized in courtto Kelly Williams' family and to the community.
"Dylan may be a legal adult, but extensive research shows that he is still of an age where the brain hasn't finished developing, and the last parts of the brain to develop are those that govern impulse control, the ability to plan for the future, and the ability to foresee and understand consequences.
"In his immaturity, he wrote a crude and careless letter to a friend of his, exhibiting his lack of understanding of his situation or the pain he caused. After that time, he saw the police reports and terrible photographs documenting the wreck and its effects. The gravity of the situation hit him, and while he still has a lot of maturing to do even today, he has a much better understanding now of the effect of his choices than he did a year ago.
"The terrible reality of what happened is that nothing can bring Ms. Williams back, but the best way to protect and serve the community is to rehabilitate Dylan and help him to be a better person and citizen, rather than to send him to prison with no tools to learn how to improve himself for when he gets out. ...He has great remorse for the loss and pain that he caused and intends to take this opportunity to continue to improve himself, to mature, and to give back to the community."
Forgiveness and justice
Judy Williams says she forgives Meyer. She has done so, she says, because her daughter would have done so.
But forgiveness and justice are different paths. It bothers Williams that Meyer apparently has not shown an ounce of compassion or remorse for killing her daughter.
If Meyer offered an apology in court to the family, as his attorney says, the family did not hear it.
"The lack of remorse breaks my heart," Judy Williams wrote in a victim-impact letter she sent to Judge Jones, which he presumably read prior to sentencing.
"A simple 'I'm sorry' would go a long way to curb my anger. 'No contest'? What is that?" she wrote.
When Meyer pleaded guilty in October, he entered an Alford plea, which some call a "no contest" plea. It means heacknowledges that prosecutors have enough evidence for a conviction, but it is not an admission that the person committed the crime.
Here's where the public has misunderstood the process, Moench says.
"He 100 percent understands that he committed the crime," she says. "But he does not remember the wreck at all."
Therefore, if Meyer entered a straight guilty plea he would have to lie under oath before the judge that he knows that he did everything he is accused of doing.
Eyewitness cop
The crash that took Kelly Williams' life was witnessed by an off-duty Springfield police officer working at the Walgreens at the Battlefield and Campbell intersection.
According to court documents, Cpl. Jim Edwards was outside the store when he heard the sound of a vehicle approaching the intersection "at an excessive speed dueto the highway noise it was creating."
He watched Meyer's truck slam into Kelly Williams'white car. "The impact separated the front end of the white vehicle from the rear of the vehicle."
According to court documents, adifferent officer asked Meyer how much he had to drink and he said, "Enough."
The officer then asked about drugs.
Meyer said, "I've done every drug."
Meyer wason probation at the time of the crash for a misdemeanor charge of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia on July 4, 2014. This was in Pulaski County. He was 19.
The citation came from the Missouri State Highway Patrol, Troop I, in Rolla.
Meyer was stopped at a checkpoint and was charged with possessing drug paraphernalia anda small amount of marijuana,says Sgt. Cody Fulkerson.
Three months later, a Greene County deputy pulled over Meyerfor apparently driving while intoxicated. He issued Meyer a misdemeanor citation for a minor visibly intoxicated with a blood alcohol content of more than .02 percent. That charge was pending at the time of the crash.
I don't know how the DWIarrest affected Meyer's Pulaski County probation. Pulaski County Prosecutor Kevin Hillman did not return my call.
"Why? Why?"
Kelly Williams had agreed to be an organ donor. That did not happen.
"Kelly was a very kind and generous person," wrote Bob Williams of Strafford,her father, in aletter to Judge Jones. "She was also an organ donor. Because of the extentof her multiple massive injuries she suffered in the crash, her organs were unsuitable for donation."
Says her mother,“There wasn’t anything that they could take.She was too broken up."
Judy Williams says the sentence doesn't lessen or increase her grief and loss. She has missed her loving daughter every day since her death. Her daughter, she says,refused to consider a job in Dallas so she could care for her aging parents. The couple were divorced in 1993.
In preparation, Kelly had obtained a degree as a certified nursing assistant.
"She was willing to stay here until we both were gone," says Judy, 67, who has health problems.
After the death, Judy could no longer work. She retired after 40 years.
"Christmas was especially hard because I questioned my faith," she wrote in her letter to Judge Jones. "Why? Why?"
At times, she tells me,shestill picks up the phone.She forgets and calls her daughter. And no one answers.
These are the views of Steve Pokin, the News-Leader's columnist. Pokin has been at the paper four years and over the course of his career has covered just about everything — from courts and cops to features and fitness. He can be reached at 836-1253, spokin@gannett.com, on Twitter @stevepokinNL or by mail at 651 N. Boonville, Springfield, MO 65806.
