A Florida lady who killed a beloved grandmother in a hit-and-run refused to apologize or acknowledge the sufferer’s household after being sentenced to solely 4 years in jail.
Patricia Garner’s household was in attendance for the sentencing of Sharon Cox on Tuesday after she had pleaded responsible to working down and killing their beloved one and injuring two others within the parking zone of the Miami Gardens neighborhood middle in 2023, NBC 6 reported.
Nonetheless, Cox, 65, stayed silent at sentencing — providing no apology to Garner’s heartbroken household — a second that pissed off relations after months of outcry to ensure she was held accountable for her actions.
“Ms. Cox didn’t even arise and say that she was sorry,” Sandra Welch, Garner’s sister-in-law, advised the outlet outdoors the courtroom. “She didn’t say one phrase.”
The household’s outrage over Garner’s loss of life intensified earlier this yr once they found Miami-Dade State Lawyer’s prosecutors provided Cox a plea deal that might solely land her in jail for one yr.
Prosecutors later withdrew that plea deal and provided a brand new settlement calling for 4 years behind bars after the household and neighborhood publicly criticized the unique provide.
“You need to struggle to your personal beloved one,” Garner’s brother, Bruce Baskin, stated.
“The system shouldn’t be going to struggle for the one you love — you need to struggle. Patricia was not right here to struggle for herself.”
Even with the revised plea deal, Garner’s household insists the punishment isn’t sturdy sufficient to ship a message.
“The neighborhood must be conscious that persons are working over folks every single day and leaving them laying on the road,” Garner’s sister, Allie Mobley, stated.
“To get solely the period of time she obtained for killing her, it hurts.”
Nonetheless, whereas they didn’t obtain an apology from Cox, the household stated that they had forgiven her for killing their beloved one.
“I’m a Christian,” Welch advised the outlet. “However no less than in your coronary heart, simply say that you just’re sorry. She didn’t even present regret.”
However Mobley stated {that a} day doesn’t go by with out all the household lacking Garner.
“We’ll at all times miss her,” Mobley stated.
As a part of the plea deal, Cox will stay on probation for 2 years after her launch.
Her driver’s license has additionally been revoked for 5 years, and he or she might be required to attend site visitors college and full 100 hours of neighborhood service.
“For each member of the family in each legal case, the ache of victimization at all times cuts deep,” the Miami-Dade State Lawyer’s workplace advised NBC 6 in an announcement.
“We perceive that although this decision is what the regulation permits on this case and had been accepted by the sufferer’s household, no sentence can ever reduce the lack of a beloved one.”
The workplace added that it hopes Garner’s household “can start their grieving course of and discover peace” now that Cox has been sentenced.
Cox’s lawyer, Andrew Rier, stated that the case reached “an acceptable decision the place not one of the events concerned had been totally happy.”
“This was a tricky case, a tragic accident, and we hope this finality can carry closure to the sufferer’s household,” he stated.
