The Arapahoe District Attorney’s Office is defending its decision to give probation and community service to a teenager who was driving illegally and, in the country illegally, when he killed a woman.
The accident happened last July in Aurora. The victim, Kaitlyn Weaver, was headed home from work when a Jeep, barreling through a residential neighborhood, slammed into her car. The speed limit in the area was 45 mph. Investigators say the driver was doing more than 90 mph.
“She didn’t even see him coming,” her dad, John Weaver, said. “That’s how fast he was going. She was effectively killed instantly.”
He says he and his wife Michelle removed their daughter from life support 2 days later, “How do you fathom that loss?”
Weaver says his daughter was a born caregiver and volunteered for a suicide hotline before taking a job at a drug rehab center in Aurora, “She was really trying to make a difference in their lives every day.”
She was 24 years old. The suspect was 15 years old and had other kids in the car with him. He was charged with vehicular homicide. Due to his age, state law shields him from being publicly identified in court records.
Weaver says the prosecutor initially promised to pursue the maximum sentence of two years in youth corrections: “The DA’s office said this would be a ‘no plea deal’ case, so they were not going to offer anything; any concession.”
That changed, he says, when the Arapahoe County District Attorney’s Office changed hands a few months later.
Under the new District Attorney Amy Padden, Weaver says the teen was offered two years’ probation if he pleaded guilty.
“Why the change? If he had taken a firearm and recklessly just shot it and killed someone, this would be a different case. They would be pushing it completely differently,” Weaver said. “There’s no deterrence.”
There’s also no financial liability, he says, despite his daughter’s medical bills, which came to nearly $1 million.