Friday, Nov. 06, 2009
A source of solace for victim’s family while man in DUI case gets maximum sentence
By DAWN BORMANN
The Kansas City Star
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ReprintEric Snitz’s third arrest for DUI came at a high price — the life of 17-year-old Washington High School student Christopher Brown.
On Friday, Snitz was sentenced to four years in prison for involuntary manslaughter while driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. He pleaded no contest to the charge in August.
Brown’s parents expected to be overcome with sadness this week, but a letter arrived Wednesday to remind them just how precious their son’s life had been.
Inside the letter, a few sentences let the family know that the organ recipient who had received their son’s heart would like to talk with them. It was a letter that Bob and Tonya Brown had longed to receive since their son’s death nearly two years ago.
“It was amazing that it came this week,” Tonya Brown said.
The timing was impeccable because the couple were nervously preparing to speak in front of a courtroom and tell a judge about their boy.
“There can’t be anything on Earth worse than losing a child. And if there is, I can’t imagine what it would be,” Tonya Brown told the judge. “There will be no wedding, no children.”
The couple asked for the maximum sentence for the man who they said was traveling more than 80 miles per hour when the crash happened at 86th Street and State Avenue on Jan. 26, 2008.
Snitz, who has two previous DUI convictions, refused a blood-alcohol test after he slammed into the back of Brown’s car. Authorities said Snitz had a loaded weapon and ran from the crash scene.
Snitz’s defense attorney asked for a prison sentence of 42 months, but Wyandotte County Judge J. Dexter Burdette imposed the maximum sentence.
Snitz, 41, of Basehor nervously read an apology letter to the Brown family expressing his remorse.
Brown, who was on his way home from work, suffered massive head injuries and later died at an area hospital.