12/9 - MADD SC - FINAL Draft - CM Report 2019-2020 Images

12/9 - MADD SC - FINAL Draft - CM Report 2019-2020 Images

South Carolina mothers against drunk driving

COURT MONITORING REPORT

R E F U S A L T O C H A N G E

2020

DEDICATION: CHALLISSAH MILLS

Challissah Mills was just 26 years old and at the beginning of her life when she was tragically killed by a drunk driver. Challissah was a loving daughter, devoted sister, and loyal friend. She had a beautiful smile and energy that lit up the room. She had a way of making others always feel comfortable around her. Oftentimes, she would give her last or take the least desirable option to ensure everyone’s comfort.

Challissah, along with her three sisters (“The Mills Girls”), were inseparable, protective, and fiercely close from childhood. She was a role model to her little brother, who shared her love of video games, scary movies, anime’, and Pokemon. Her family was her number one priority. From childhood, she loved to cook and bake with her Grandmother. She had dreams of attending culinary school from a young age and wanted to open her own bakery. Challissah graduated from South Florence High and then enrolled at Florence- Darlington Tech. There, Challissah served as an education ambassador and was an active member of the Drama Club. She wanted to eventually transfer to Rutgers and had aspirations to be a chef, own a bakery, be a psychologist, or be a writer. Challissah was fearless in everything she did. Whether it was fighting fires, making peanut butter blossoms for her friends, rocking out in her bedroom with her little sister, or playing Beyblades on the floor with her little brother, Challissah always did it with such purpose. Challissah had a dark and daring sense of humor. She was sarcastic, witty, and naturally charming. Challissah earned her CNA license and graduated first in her class. She served as a CNA and spent the last few months of her life tirelessly caring for her sick mother. She was a willing support system to anyone who asked, earning the title “Dr. Phil” amongst her friends as they would turn to her for advice. Throughout her life she maintained the honesty and pure heart of a child, speaking what was on her mind and finding the good in everyone around her. On October 9 th , 2017, Challissah was pulling into her driveway when she was hit by a drunk driver. She did nothing wrong, yet, her life was taken at the age of 26. Challissah’s mother, Lisa Hagberg, has been a fierce advocate since then, working alongside MADD to tell her story and make herself available for every opportunity to inform stakeholders about the need for change in this state. Through Lisa, Challissah’s spirit is very much present in this report. “In 2017, there were 313 drunk driving fatalities in South Carolina. My daughter was one of them,” Lisa reminds us.

DEDICATION: ALLISON WOMACK

It was a clear beautiful afternoon in Lexington on July 9, 2019 when a 20-year-old young woman’s life was changed forever. Allison Womack, her friend Deandre, and a couple of other friends were driving on heavily travelled Highway 378. Unfortunately, a 64- year-old drunk driver was traveling

westbound on 378 that day who had many previous DUIs that had been pled down, as well as three pending DUIs. The drunk driver turned in front of them and struck Allison’s Honda SUV, flipping it over with his large pickup truck. Allison’s friends fortunately escaped the crash with scrapes and bruises. Allison received a shoulder injury that later required surgery. Allison had just become certified as a yoga instructor, something that she had worked very hard to achieve. The injury to her shoulder completely derailed her ability to work as a yoga instructor after teaching just one class. The drunk driver in this case did not have a driver’s license, insurance, nor assets in his name. On February 24, the drunk driver pled guilty to DUI Third Offense. The plea was a result of another pending DUI charge. Allison bravely faced the offender in court and gave her victims impact statement through tears. The offender was sentenced to three years in prison. However, he later requested a sentencing reconsideration and, due to contracting COVID in prison, a judge decided to let him out and serving just 159 days of that sentence. At a hearing on September 9, 2020, Allison and her mother, Kristen, spoke directly to the drunk driver that upended their lives. “Allison is still my baby and like many parents, my need to protect her becomes more intense in times of trouble. While I had the luxury of knowing what had happened before getting there, my child had just experienced the absolute scariest moment of her life. Did you know that she felt sorry for you when she saw you get out of your truck? She thought you were just old and possibly injured or shook up. It wasn’t until someone told her that you were drunk that she even thought about someone doing something so stupid!” Kristen stated. “My fear is that you are going to kill someone. Every time I think about your attorney’s ridiculous comment about you not being eligible for a license, my blood boils. As if that plays any part in protecting innocent people from you! As if that makes you in any way less dangerous. You had no license when you nearly killed my daughter, you had no insurance when you nearly killed a car load of kids! No one is any safer now than the day you drove into my child.” Allison’s experience speaks well to the issues raised in this report. If the “system” had worked the first, or second, or third or more times, then this crash would have been prevented.

3

Executive Summary

MADD South Carolina monitors the outcomes of first offense misdemeanor DUI cases in seven large South Carolina counties. The starting dates in those counties ranged from 2016 to 2019. The counties where we currently monitor are Berkeley, Charleston, Greenville, Horry, Lexington, Richland, and Spartanburg. The program’s goals are to compile relevant statistics regarding the dispositions of DUI cases in the courtrooms, to raise awareness of the level of public concern regarding the dispositions of DUI cases, and to report information on the dispositions of DUI cases in order to make improvements to the DUI enforcement, prosecution and/or adjudication systems. Court Monitoring staff collected specific information on cases from attending court hearings or through case research online. We also have held multiple meetings with informed individuals within the enforcement and prosecution communities to assist with interpretation and context. This is our third state report with the first two being published in 2017 and 2018. Our target counties varied in terms of who handled the prosecution of cases in the courts where we monitored. Horry County has a high percentage of cases prosecuted by the arresting officer. Greenville, Spartanburg, and Lexington Counties more often used attorney prosecutors. Charleston and Berkeley Counties were a mix of attorney prosecuted and likely officer prosecuted depending on the jurisdiction. We determined that Richland County did not fit a category because it seems the balance of officer vs. attorney prosecuted cases has been shifting in the time we have monitored there. Our >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35

Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog