A Father's Words to the Court at Sentencing:

Your honor,

Meaning no disrespect to you or the court, this is the last place I want to be today. If I could wave a magic wand I would go back in time, make one pass and erase the grief and trauma may family has suffered since we received that call last May in the middle of the night.

I am not going to subject this proceeding with a detailed account of J.C.’s life. I have already done that in the pre-sentence investigation. Furthermore, I would be the first to say that J.C. was all boy and that he didn’t always do what we thought was best in every situation. But we raised him to be a loving caring individual who was gentle considerate of others, accepting of diversity, and to know an honest day’s work. He was loved by his family, he was loved by his girlfriend Amanda, and he was loved by his friends. We will miss the celebration of J.C.’s life and accomplishments. We will never celebrate his graduation from the University of Akron. We won’t celebrate that first job. We won’t share in the joy of his wedding day or our first grandchild and Tami’s first niece or nephew. We won’t celebrate those family vacations, birthdays, anniversaries, religious holidays, those meals on Sunday afternoon, those special visits, the messages on the answering machine, the helping hand from time to time or most importantly those gentle hugs. We are certainly feeling a void in our lives.

Not only will we miss celebrating J.C.’s life, our family and friends have been subjected to sever hurt and grief. Starting with a call in the night, to the hours of agony spent at the hospital waiting for a miracle, to having to explain over and over what happened to J.C., to making the decision whether to pull the plug or not, to moving his belongings our of his apartment, to just driving through Akron, to every time I see a motorcycle, to the family vacations or holidays without him, the hurt just keeps tearing away at those who loved and cared for him.

Would all these things be more bearable if this were just an accident would it be less hurtful if Eric had stopped to assist J.C.? Or called for help? Would it be more bearable if Eric didn’t leave the scene or wasn’t under the influence? Would it be less hurtful if Eric didn’t try to hide the damage on the car? Or less hurtful if he had not returned to the scene pretending to be an innocent bystander as J.C. lay on the pavement? Would we be more forgiving if Eric had not hid from the police? Would J.C.’s family hurt less if Eric had shown even the least bit of remorse when he walked into the police station to turn himself in? Would J.C.’s family feel better about all of this had Eric not been breaking the law when the accident happened? We obviously cannot change all of those decisions made by Eric that eventful evening back in May. Nor would answering any of those questions prove to change the outcome of these events. What we can attest to is our displeasure, our anger, our frustration, and our hurt that Eric displayed total disregard for J.C.’s well being the evening of the accident.

J.C.’s family believes as the bible states that vengeance belongs to the Lord. However we would like to believe that justice belongs to J.C.’s family and friends. Our family has a need for justice, not a slap on the wrist. WE have a need for the punishment to fit the crime. We have a need for Eric Moore to learn or know that for every action there is a reaction. For every crime there is a fitting and fair punishment. J.C.’s family and friends challenge the court, in whatever way possible, to assist Eric into becoming a credit to society, into making something of himself, into becoming a responsible citizen.