Tired of ads? Subscribers enjoy a distraction-free reading experience.
Click here to subscribe today or Login.

Wednesday, December 18, 2002     Page: 7A

OPINION
LIFE IS NOT clear-cut, nor is justice, nor are our feelings about it.
   
That became apparent Monday when it was announced Luzerne County
prosecutors dropped the most serious charge against Mary DeMark connected to
the 2000 drunken driving crash that killed her younger brother.
    Instead of a mandatory three- to six-year sentence in state prison, the
lower charges allowed her to be sentenced to a two- to four-year sentence in
county prison with work release.
   
What is certain is that Mary DeMark killed someone. Because that someone
was her brother, she will serve less time in less challenging circumstances
than others who have killed in the same manner.
   
Clearly Matthew DeMark’s death should not be dismissed. Clearly drunken
driving should not go unpunished. Yet jailing Mary DeMark seemed to punish
most her grieving parents. They asked Luzerne County District Attorney David
Lupas for leniency.
   
We believe DA Lupas and Judge Mark Ciavarella were appropriately
compassionate within the guidelines of the law and sentencing. They insisted
on punishment but were sensitive to the circumstances.
   
Justice is not a playbook. It cannot be scripted. Mandatory sentences do
not take into account the tendency of life to confound us. And with situations
as complex as the DeMark case, it is a welcome trend that allows family
members of victims to express themselves about sentencing.
   
Yet we can’t help but wonder how these decisions will reflect in the
future. Others charged with homicide while driving under the influence will
surely be sorry too. Will this family compassion reasoning hold up for a close
cousin? Or an in-law? Good friends or longtime co-workers? How about estranged
siblings?
   
We don’t have all the answers. Neither do the prosecutors or the judges. We
take each case, each day, as they come. Just as Solomon’s clever decision
didn’t satisfy every side, there is no happy ending here. There is only the
cold assurance that long after most of us forget the accident and drunken
drivers forget the lesson, Mary DeMark and her parents will still be grieving.