EVERETT — Jagdish Sharma worries.
Sharma worries about his wife, who has lost weight. Nightmares disturb her sleep. She can’t seem to focus on anything.
He worries about his son’s heart, heavy with sorrow. The young man is depressed and sometimes he doesn’t leave his room.
“Anita’s death has discouraged the life of all her family members,” Sharma said Thursday afternoon in a packed Snohomish County courtroom.
The Mill Creek man’s voice shook as he described his daughter and the life he imagined for her.
Behind him sat another father — the man responsible for killing Anita Sharma, 31.
William Reardon, 43, admitted last month that he was drunk last August when he drove his pickup off Highway 99 and crushed Anita Sharma as she talked with a friend outside a Lynnwood pub.
Reardon reeked of alcohol and was incoherent as he staggered from the wreckage.
On Thursday, he told Jagdish and Indra Sharma that he wishes that he would have died that evening, not their daughter.
Reardon was sentenced Thursday to three years in prison.
Superior Court Judge Ronald Castleberry said that a mid-range sentence was appropriate given the circumstances. Reardon didn’t have any prior convictions or a history of alcohol abuse. He appears truly remorseful, the judge said.
“With that said, nothing he says will make it up in terms of the loss of a beautiful young lady,” Castleberry said.
Anita Sharma’s parents and brother described her as a loving woman who put her family first. She held her mother’s hand at doctor’s appointments and filled her father’s life with joy. She cared for her brother after he was hit by a car while crossing a street. She worked to keep her cousins close.
Indra Sharma looked forward to her daughter marrying and having children.
“I could not protect my daughter from this killer,” she said.
She and her son asked Castleberry to ignore the sentencing guidelines set by lawmakers. They said Reardon deserved a death sentence.
“As I’ve often said in these types of sentencings, no punishment that I can give will ever be sufficient when a human life is taken, particularly when the victim is loved by so many,” Castleberry said. “I doubt anything I say or do will bring closure to the pain and sorrow this family feels.”
Reardon, a certified public accountant, left work a couple hours early on Aug. 27 to go boating with a friend. He had a few drinks on the boat. When they docked, he decided he was too intoxicated to drive. His friend offered to drive him to a restaurant where they spent a couple hours having dinner, his attorney Jesse Cantor wrote in court documents. The receipt showed no alcohol drinks were ordered. Reardon was taken back to his car and believed he had sobered up enough to drive home. He drove from Issaquah to Highway 99. About a mile from his home he crashed his truck.
“I will never forgive myself. I will continue to punish myself,” Reardon said Thursday.
He told the Sharmas that he understands the love they have for their daughter. The day his own daughter was born, everything changed, he explained. The only important job he has is to be a dad, he said.
“I apologize to you. As long as I walk on this earth your daughter’s name will not be forgotten,” Reardon said. “Her death will not be in vain.”
Reardon vowed to raise awareness about the consequences of drunken driving.
“Anita, I beg your forgiveness. I will carry you with me wherever I go,” he said.
Reardon’s family also attended Thursday’s hearing. They watched as he was led away by county marshals.
Jagdish Sharma spoke with reporters later. He said he recognized the judge was confined by the law in handing down Reardon’s sentence. He called Castleberry’s decision fair.
“As a parent, you’re never satisfied with the limitations of the law,” he said.
He hopes Reardon’s words were sincere. If the apology was from the heart, that matters to Anita Sharma’s family, he said.
Diana Hefley: 425-339-3463; hefley@heraldnet.com.
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