More than a year after a driver was charged with hitting and killing a woman as she walked her dog, the victim’s husband likely will see the case come to a conclusion.
But Bill Stovall of Gwinnett County is not happy about the probable outcome, Channel 2 Action News reported.
Tiffany Hayes, the driver, is expected to plead guilty Tuesday to vehicular homicide and other charges, the news station reported. She told authorities she fell asleep while driving and hit Georgette Stovall, 51, who later died from her injuries.
Hayes, of Snellville, is expected to avoid jail time and receive 10 years of probation.
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Stovall and his family have objected.
“We wanted her to feel the pain that we have been going through for two years,” he said. “That would be jail time.”
But a prosecutor explained the situation.
"The facts of this unique type of vehicular homicide were such that the likelihood of a guilty verdict after a jury trial would be low,” Assistant District Attorney Ryan Fisher wrote to the family. “It is my belief that this resolution serves the ends of justice ..."
Stovall and his wife were married for 33 years, and the deadly accident still resonates with him.
“When she came down through here and fell asleep in the curve,” he said, “she made the choice to take my wife, and you need to be held accountable for your choices.”
There’s a chance the judge could throw out the plea, but Stovall and his family know that’s unlikely.
“I'm a survivor,” he said. “I'll get over it, but I just need some closure.”
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