I never got to say goodbye to my parents.
I'll never get to see my friends again.
My girlfriend broke down in tears when she heard the news.
I was just buzzed.
I'll never get to go to college.
It was only one shot.
I didn't mean to hit those people.
I should have never let my friend drive drunk.
I should have never got behind the wheel.
I never thought this would happen to me.
On average, every year, about 40,000 people
lose their life to an alcohol-related incident.
At some point, that mistake is going to catch up to them.
They may drive drunk, and they may get home.
And unfortunately, that may make them bolder.
And then the next time they do it,
the next time it could be their life.
It could be somebody else's.
It could be somebody they love.
It's not a matter of if, but it's a matter of when.
That choice to drink and drive takes the life of somebody.
Hey, Peyton, want to play some golf?
Sure.
All right.
Hey, what about us?
You guys can just watch.
We're going to play a game of golf.
Why, not just big teams, girls versus guys.
Yeah.
We can do that.
First, let's make it interesting.
Here's your chocolate leaves after each round.
I trusted Jeremy not to go into my cabinet with alcohol.
And he did, and he shared it with his friends.
We just had a few beers.
It didn't even seem like a lot.
So what are you guys doing right now?
Nothing.
Nothing.
Do you want to come over to my house and watch a movie?
Yeah, sure.
Sounds good.
OK, let me call my mom.
OK.
Hey, mom, I'm going to go to Giselle's house.
That was the last time I heard my daughter's voice.
OK, I love you too.
That was the last time I ever got to say that I loved her.
Hey, JB, you got anything to eat?
Nothing too good here.
Is anyone good to drive?
I'm good.
I can drive.
All right, then let's go eat some food.
Getting behind the wheel of that vehicle
was the worst mistake of my life.
Are you good to drive?
No, yeah, yeah, I'm good.
That one stupid mistake destroyed my life forever.
California Highway Patrol.
All right, yes, we've been in an accident.
Where, sir?
We're in front of the Venture Academy building on Transwills.
Now you're being stupid.
That's what you're doing.
You're being absolutely real good.
He's dead.
We can't even do anything unless he's hurt.
I didn't feel anything.
It was just a couple of years.
It was just a couple of years.
It was just a couple of years.
It was just a couple of years.
It was just a couple of years.
It was just a couple of years.
It was just a couple of years.
It was just a couple of years.
It was just a couple of years.
It was just a couple of years.
It was just a couple of years.
Patient was a restrained driver of a car that was hit by a drunk driver.
Unknown medical history, unknown allergies, unknown meds as far as assessment.
She has an open airway, however, she lost her respiratory drive in route, so we are
currently bagging her.
We have an 18-gauge IV established in the right AC.
How old was she?
What did she say she was?
18.
Okay.
And this was the result of a drunk driving crash?
6.
7.
8.
9.
30.
2.
Still not getting anything on the monitor.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
It's just too far gone that she came in.
Okay.
Can you grab a sheet and put it over, please?
Time of death, 11.
23.
Are you Lizzie's parents?
Lizzie was in a car crash.
We were not able to revive her, and I'm very sorry.
We lost Lizzie.
It's not natural for someone in a car crash.
It's not natural for someone that's a child to lose their life.
It's not natural.
It's not natural to die in a collision.
I've responded several times to where I know if I had the family, that they had lost
a loved one, and it's like you see the life drain from them.
I'm very sorry to tell you, Jeremy died today as a result of a motor vehicle accident.
Okay.
I don't have a lot of details regarding the accident right now.
The California Highway Patrol will be putting together a full report concerning what happened.
You do want to go see Jeremy now?
Yes, please.
Yes?
Do you want to come with us?
We do the best we can to comfort those families and to help them out, but we cry with them.
I'll show you, Jeremy.
I'm not leaving alone.
It's almost as if it wasn't real.
I just couldn't believe it was him.
I'll never get to see my son graduate.
Never get to see him go off to college.
I'll never get to see him get married.
Never thought I would ever see him laying on a table like that.
I've always expected it to be me instead of him.
Life's going to be very empty without him.
I saw him every day.
I'll get to do that again.
Although my son made the decision to get in the car, I'll never forgive Azari for taking my son's life.
The people's job is to seek justice.
As the court knows, we presented sufficient evidence that led the jury to conclude that this defendant is guilty of two counts, a second-degree murder,
for the death of two young individuals, Jeremy Blaisingen and Lizzie Burgess.
Now your honor, these two young people had remarkable futures ahead of them.
Those new futures are snuffed out.
There will not be anything left for their families to consider but their deaths.
I can never take back what I've done after I've lived the rest of my life knowing I've killed Lizzie and JB.
And as you're aware, hearing the evidence of this case, this was a tragedy in our community.
And this court has the ability to assist in being able to repair that tragedy by allowing Ms. Descartes to run her sentence concurrent rather than consecutive.
Concurrent would allow her to do 15 years to life knowing that she would still have to do 15 years before she even has any chance at the parole board.
I ask you to consider all of those mitigating circumstances along with the reports that you have from probation and her family and give her an opportunity to run that sentence concurrent, your honor.
I never thought my daughter would do something like this.
We're already anticipating her, you know, attending her graduation and, you know, around 25 or 30 between that time.
You know, she possibly planned on being married but, I mean, she definitely had a plan for her life and now none of those things are going to happen.
As R.A. Descartes, the jury has found you guilty of two counts of murder in the second degree with two separate victims. I did hear Mr. Samara's arguments about the future and things that lie ahead. However, there are two people who will not have the future and will not have those things lie ahead because of your actions.
Choices have consequences, a choice was made. The consequence is the sentence of 15 years to life for each of the victims. I am going to order that they run consecutive for a total sentence of 30 years to life.
Without, I'm going to remand you to the sheriff to be delivered to the Department of Corrections.
I am a monster. I took two lives. My decision, I don't deserve anything.
She's not a monster. She's very kind and she's loving and she's giving and she's just, she's full of energy and, you know, she has so much to give. She made a mistake and I wish I could fix it.
I think she'll regret this the rest of her life. I have mixed emotions because she's going to have to live with this. They were friends and I think that emotionally she will pay so much more than any time she could serve anywhere.
I never thought that I would be here. That one stupid mistake destroyed my life forever. That should have been me, not them.
Generally, these aren't bad people. It's not somebody who went out that day and decided, I'm going to drive drunk and I'm going to kill somebody on purpose. It's, they made a mistake. They allowed the responsibility of driving to slip away and when they did that, they made a poor choice and that poor choice caused somebody their lives and there's consequences for that.
It's a tragedy in every sense of the word and it affects multiple, multiple people on every level.
Will it be you?
