Teen's sentence in fatal hit ends

Phiadelphia Inquirer, The (PA)

A judge decided yesterday that a 15-year-old unlicensed driver who killed a young Mayfair mother in April needs no further punishment now that the girl has completed community service.

However, Family Court Judge Richard Gordon gave a stern lecture to Megan Miller's father, who let her get behind the wheel of the family's 1999 Mercury Grand Marquis for a driving lesson April 17.”You put her in the seat of that car,” Gordon told Richard Miller, 46, of the 3200 block of Longshore Avenue. “A life is gone, and a baby will never know her mother.”

The victim, 18-year-old Sarah McGinley, tossed her infant daughter to safety before being run over in the front yard of her fiance's home on Nesper Street near Ryan Avenue.

Richard Miller has been ordered to stand trial on charges of felony homicide by vehicle and misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter. He is free on $25,000 bail and is scheduled to be arraigned today.

“You created this avalanche, this carnage, this tragedy,” Gordon told Richard Miller.

The judge also ordered Megan Miller to turn to the weeping members of McGinley's family and read aloud her letter of apology.

“My family and I are praying for you every day,” she said, barely audible through her tears. “I am truly sorry.”

The victim's mother, Elizabeth McGinley, was too overcome with emotion to read her handwritten victim-impact statement to the judge. Instead, her mother, Patricia Smith, read aloud the emotional letter, which brought many in the courtroom to tears.

“The impact of her death has shattered our lives. How can we ever put the pieces together again?” McGinley wrote.

Sarah McGinley was a loving young mother, who had gotten engaged at Christmas, McGinley wrote.

“Now, there will be no beautiful bride. . . . Now, the baby will only know her mother through pictures,” McGinley wrote.

Sometimes, she added, she couldn't bear to look at her sleeping baby granddaughter because it reminded her of Sarah lying in her coffin.

Even the judge appeared to wipe away tears, and he told the family how sorry he was for their loss.

In June, Megan Miller pleaded guilty to felony charges of causing a fatal accident without a proper license. Gordon placed her on interim probation and ordered her to perform 200 hours of community service.

Most of those hours were spent doing clerical and archival work at Family Court, according to probation officials. The teen also spent some time removing invasive plants from a city park.

Yesterday, Assistant District Attorney Anthony Voci asked Gordon to place Megan Miller on probation until she is 18.

Gordon noted that the tragedy devastated two families, but said that the teen had shown accountability and was no longer in need of rehabilitation under the state's juvenile-justice system.

“You will always have to redeem yourself each day,” Gordon told Megan Miller, who will be entering 10th grade at St. Basil's Academy.

Turning to Richard Miller, who sat in the front seat of the courtroom, Gordon added: “Mr. Miller, you put a weight on [Megan's] shoulders she'll never be able to run from . . . a shadow she'll never be able to hide from.”

After the hearing, Voci said McGinley's family remains devastated by the death and the judge's decision to release Megan Miller from further supervision or punishment.

“Today's proceeding didn't help in any way, shape or form,” Voci told reporters.

Smith, the victim's grandmother, told reporters: “We're just very, very sad.”

Contact staff writer Jacqueline Soteropoulos at 215-854-4497 or jsoteropoulos@phillynews.com.

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