Deadly DUI yields 35-year sentence

Shannon Stephen's decision to drive drunk crushed the budding young lives of Joe Swiech and Sarah Gleason.

Stephen learned Wednesday night that his decision also will take away a large chunk of his own life. Circuit Judge Shawn Crane listened to three hours of testimony before sentencing the 38-year-old Holiday man to 35 years in prison.

"No one is going to walk out of this courtroom and feel good about anything that has happened as a result of the conduct that night," Crane said just before announcing the sentence.

The sentencing hearing came more than a month after a weeklong trial that ended with a jury finding Stephen guilty of two counts of DUI-manslaughter and one count of leaving the scene of an accident involving death.

Family and friends of Swiech and Gleason packed the courtroom Wednesday to remember the couple and ask Crane for the harshest sentence allowable: 45 years in prison.

"He killed my brother Joe and the love of his life, Sarah, and all I have ever wanted is justice," said Mark Crispino, who flew from San Diego for the hearing. "I think of Joe every day and what his life would be like. Would he have a family? But instead, I see a counselor because I'm so angry and sad and depressed because I can't figure out why this happened."

In 2006, Swiech, 26, and Gleason, 24, were living in Elfers. They were engaged and planned to marry in 2007. Swiech loved children and taught preschool at KinderCare in Dunedin. Gleason waited tables at Hooters in Palm Harbor and took online classes. She had been hired by Verizon shortly before her death.

The couple attended the Chasco Fiesta on the night of March 25, 2006, and decided to call a friend for a ride home because they had been drinking.

Instead of waiting, however, they began to walk along Grand Boulevard in hopes of catching their ride on their way. It was just after 1 a.m. when Stephen, driving his Chevrolet Silverado, swerved off the road, hit them and drove off.

Swiech died at the scene; Gleason died at a hospital.

Two of Gleason's aunts, Joanne Gleason and Jackie Strait, flew from Syracuse, N.Y., to attend the hearing Wednesday.

"Words cannot express the pain and anguish our family has endured since Sarah's unnecessary death," Joanne Gleason told Crane.

Stephen had been out drinking with his friends that night. He was found in his truck near Grand and State Road 54, about a mile away from where Swiech and Gleason were hit.

Tests showed Stephen had a blood-alcohol level of 0.24 percent. The state presumes a driver intoxicated at 0.08.

A large contingent of Stephen's family and friends sat opposite the victims' families and spoke to Crane in hopes the judge would hand down a lenient sentence.

They described Stephen as a responsible, giving person with a solid work ethic who had never before been in trouble. His mother, Shelley Stephen, told Crane how her son took over as a father figure for his two younger brothers after their father died 20 years ago.

"After the past four years, I see a guy who's had a lot of mud thrown at him, and he's still standing," Stephen's younger brother Josh said. "He's been an inspiration to me. He's a really good brother, the best brother I could ever ask for."

In the end, however, the pleas for leniency did little to sway Crane.

"They were walking back from Chasco Fiesta because they had too much too drink and shouldn't have been driving," the judge told Stephen. "They made a conscious decision and a well-reasoned good choice, and these folks lost their life making that choice."