EVERETT — The candles, cards and flowers placed at the foot of a wooden cross should have been enough to remind a 17-year-old driver of the consequences of driving too fast.
She ignored the memorial. She ignored pleas from a passenger to slow down.
On Thursday the girl pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in the death of Snohomish High School junior Laura Meek, 16. She was sentenced to 15 to 36 weeks in detention.
The Herald is not naming the driver because she was charged as a juvenile.
Meek, two other teens and a toddler were riding in the 17-year-old’s car on Dec. 18, 2002, when it crashed into a Jeep Cherokee near the intersection of 147th Avenue SE and Three Lakes Road near Snohomish.
The driver told investigators she had been speeding and lost control of the car. She also was in violation of her intermediate driver’s license, which prohibited her from having minor passengers in the car.
Meek was airlifted to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. She never regained consciousness, and was removed from life support nine days after the crash.
"We are not supposed to bury our children, but I had to bury my little girl. I stood at Laura’s bedside for nine long, horrifying days and watched her die," said her mother, Ruth Klein, reading a letter she had written to the court.
Klein went on to say that she doesn’t feel that the driver has taken responsibility for her daughter’s death.
"She needs more than to be admonished and given her life back and told to do better next time. (She) gets to start over again. I get to put flowers on a grave," Klein said.
The victim’s father, Thomas Meek, said the girl ignored the stark reminder of another crash as she drove his daughter home that afternoon.
Just a month before, classmate Courtney Amisson was killed in a high-speed crash. Her friends and family created a memorial at the site of the accident — less than a mile from where the defendant lives, Thomas Meek said.
"This accident scene must have been in (her) path every day she drove to school," he said.
The girl, dressed in black, looked at her hands during most of the hearing. She turned to Meek’s family when she spoke.
"I’m sorry. I never got to tell you directly. I take full responsibility for my actions," she said.
The girl also pleaded guilty to vehicular assault in connection with injuries the other passengers sustained.
Castleberry said he didn’t know if the girl was truly sorry, but her decision to plead guilty showed him she had accepted some responsibility for her actions.
"By pleading guilty to that extent, (she) saved everybody a whole lot of grief," he said.
He also added that since the crash, she has spoken to other young people about safe driving.
"Maybe somebody in that audience will take it to heart," he said.
Before handing down the sentence, Castleberry had some final words for the girl.
"For (Laura’s) sake, don’t throw away your life. You can continue talking to people and hopefully give something back," he said.
Reporter Diana Hefley:
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