Monday, April 18, 2011

A letter from Kaitlyn's mom

Shari and Kaitlyn Mounce

    My name is Shari Mounce.  Our family has been devastated by the death of our only daughter at age 15.  She spent the night with a friend and never made it home the next day.  Unbeknownst to me, Kaitlyn and two 15 year old girls decided to go with a 16 year old boy to one of his friend’s house, whose parents were hosting a party for their 15 year old son.   The parents served the kids alcohol.  My daughter did not drink that night.  However, many kids at the PARENT HOSTED party did, including the 16 year old boy who was to drive the girl’s home.
    My daughter never made it home that night.  However, we made it to the accident scene and sat with her bloody body for 2 hours.  The truck the 16 year old boy was driving flipped 5 times and then hit a pole.  My daughter, hopefully, died instantly, although we will never know.  She may have laid there and suffered before the ambulance arrived.  Not only is my family’s life destroyed, but those of two 15 year old girls and one 16 year old boy, who were in the truck.
    The parents—the Social Hosts—were convicted of 2nd degree manslaughter and received a sentence of 9 years with 2 years deferred in 2009.  Having served only one year, they have been moved to a halfway house. The 16 year old boy was charged as a youthful offender and received a 5 year deferred sentence in 2009.  He has a parole officer and if he does not make a mistake within the 5 year period his sentence will be dropped.  
    The DA in Grady County did not use Oklahoma’s existing Social Host law that was passed in 2006 to prosecute my daughter’s killers because there were greater penalties with manslaughter. We strongly believe that the penalties in HB 1211 should be even tougher than proposed. Five years in prison for an offender whose irresponsible actions of Social Hosting result in the death of a minor is ridiculous. The penalty does not fit the crime.  However, the language in HB 1211 addresses Social Hosting proactively by adding misdemeanor penalties and low-point beer to the state statute. This addition to the existing statute will save kids lives by providing law enforcement statewide the ability to charge Social Hosts with an offense before a child dies or has to suffer great bodily injury.
    We not only support HB 1211 to strengthen Oklahoma’s Social Host Law, but we believe had this bill been passed in 2008 when the language was originally proposed, my daughter would still be alive.  WE ARE BEGGING YOU ... PLEASE PASS HB 1211 TO STRENGTHEN OK’S SOCIAL HOST LAW SO KIDS LIVES WILL BE SAVED!

Kaitlyn's Headstone

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