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BLACK-SHEEP COMMENTARIES VICTIM’S ADVOCATE IMPORTANT
AN Arizona case of a drunk driver charged with vehicular manslaughter demonstrates how essential it is to have a victim’s advocate as part of the investigation and prosecution of criminal offences. At three o’clock in the morning of April 29, Judy Hardy, of North Vancouver, was jarred awake by the ringing of her telephone. The caller identified himself as Detective T. G. Reyes of the Phoenix police department and, though he spoke softly and sympathetically, his words turned night into nightmare. “I regret to inform you that your daughter Jamie Lisa Smith died from injuries she received just after midnight this morning, when her car was struck by vehicle that ran a stop sign. Your grandson Shamus survived and was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix. …” Shocked and anguished, Judy Hardy turned to her husband Doug – Shamus needs us, we’ve got to go to Phoenix right away.” While Doug was booking a flight to Phoenix, Judy phoned the Good Samaritan Hospital and learned that Shamus had been transferred to the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. She was able to get through to the intensive care unit of the Children’s Hospital and they told her that Shamus had sustained a lacerated liver, a fractured leg, a fractured wrist and sundry minor injuries. Shortly after noon the Hardys arrived in Phoenix. By 1:30 pm, they were at the hospital comforting Shamus. True to his word, Detective Reyes, accompanied by his wife, attended at the hospital to meet the Hardys. Over the next 10 days, while Shamus was being treated in hospital, Judy became involved in a myriad of matters relating to Jamie’s death, particularly the obtaining of a court order to be Shamus’ guardian. Judy told me that Katie Buckley, a Victim Advocate, assigned to assist them by the Phoenix Police Department, called them on their arrival in Phoenix. During their stay Buckley expedited red-tape matters for them; and even after the investigatory phase of the case was over Buckley called at least six times to see how Judy was coping. On May 11, Judy and Doug Hardy returned, with Shamus, to their home in North Vancouver. It was a new beginning for each of them, a first step on a journey that will test them and reward them in so many ways. By August, the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office had filed charges against Justin Gonzales: criminal damage, endangerment, leaving the scene of an accident involving death/injury, manslaughter, aggravated assault. The Victim Services Division of the office of the County Attorney appointed Victim Advocate Celia Ortiz to represent and speak on behalf of Judy Hardy and her grandson, Shamus, throughout the prosecution of the charges and any consequent sentencing. Here is a brief summary of the accident that triggered the criminal charges. At approximately 0005 hours, an intoxicated Justin James Gonzales, 21, was driving a 1999 Chevrolet Blazer, at a speed of 40 to 50 mph, westbound on Highland Street toward a stop sign at 15th Avenue. His younger brother, 16-year old Jeremy, was seated in the right front passenger seat. Gonzales drove through a posted stop sign and smashed into the driver’s side of Jamie Lisa Smith’s southbound 1999 Buick Regal, inflicting fatal injuries on her and injuring her eight-year-old son, Shamus. A number of people living in the vicinity rushed to the scene and removed the traumatized but conscious boy to safety. The two Gonzales brothers, suffering only minor injuries, immediately fled the scene without rendering any assistance to Jamie Smith and her son. Within minutes, Phoenix police officers arrived and tracked the Gonzales brothers to their mother’s nearby home. I have examined a 75-page police report containing the evidence of 17 Phoenix police officers involved in a meticulous and highly professional investigation of the scene of the accident, the tracking down of the Gonzales brothers, the taking of blood samples and recovery of other evidence. It constitutes an overwhelming body of evidence to support the charges in this case. In a letter dated Aug. 3, Victim Advocate Celia Ortiz characterized her role in the case. “I have been assigned to this case as your advocate and am here to assist you. I will be working with the prosecutor, who is the attorney assigned to handle this case. Part of my role as an advocate is to keep you informed of the status of your case as well as to assist you with any problems as a result of this crime. While this case progresses through the criminal justice system I will be sending you notification of court dates. …” On Aug. 20 Celia Ortiz telephoned Judy Hardy and gave her the name and phone number of the prosecutor, the terms of bail, the name of the judge assigned to the case, told her that a pre-trial hearing was scheduled for Sept. 7 to enable the case to be tried by the end of the year, and that a plea offer (expiring Sept. 29) had been made to the defendant for a sentence in the range of 10 ˝ to 12 years of which 85% would have to be served before any consideration for release on parole. In the weeks following, Ortiz kept Judy Hardy fully informed, particularly of her right to make a victim statement in person or by her advocate. Faced with an insurmountable case against him, Justin Gonzales agreed to plead guilty. Sentencing, originally set for Nov. 9, was moved to Nov. 16 to ensure that a written victim impact statement was in hand to be read to the judge. On Nov. 16, Justin Gonzales was sentenced to jail for 10 ˝ years, eight full years of which he must serve before any consideration of parole. Judy Hardy told me that it was too distressing for her to return to Phoenix for the sentencing and that she was grateful to the prosecutor who insisted that the sentencing not proceed until the victim statement was before the court. “It was most important to me that Justin Gonzales hear what he had taken from me and my family.” Just as I was finishing this column Judy Hardy e-mailed me a final comment. “Detective Reyes retired in August and the case was taken over by Detective Opferbeck. This officer phoned within days of taking over the case and spoke to me at length. He offered to speak to Shamus in 9 or 10 years about what happened the night of the accident and about what happened to Justin Gonzales as a result of his crime. This was a wonderful gesture. I was in communication with police, prosecutors and both advocates all the way through the past six months. I felt that my best interests were always being looked after despite the distance. “I did not want to see the face of the man who took Jamie’s life from her. I want to use all my energy raising her son.” Wallace G Craig – wallace-gilby-craig@realjustice.ca – NS News – December o6, 2006 |
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