Beth Shaw thought it would be different the first time she saw the man charged in her son’s death.
Shaw expected she would come face-to-face with Joesph Leonard Jr. long before Tuesday, nearly nine months after the accident in Bow that killed 20-year-old Tyler Shaw. She pictured Leonard would be in a prison jumpsuit and handcuffs when he arrived for his first court appearance on negligent homicide charges, she said.
“It’s hard to see him and think, ‘He’s the reason we’re here without Tyler,’ and he’s not in jail yet,” she said standing outside a courtroom at Merrimack County Superior Court. “It’s nine months tomorrow and he gets to go home for another possibly six months. It’s just not right.”
Leonard, who was indicted by a grand jury on three charges of negligent homicide in October, was in court Tuesday to be appointed a public defender. He arrived in a plaid shirt and tie covered by a gray sweater.
Prosecutors say Leonard was driving at excessive speed and under the influence when he failed to stop at an intersection at the end of the Exit 1 Interstate 89 off ramp in Bow on April 30. Leonard’s Nissan crashed into the side of Shaw’s truck on Logging Hill Road with such force, it rolled over on its driver’s side, partially ejecting Shaw, police said.
Leonard’s hearing Tuesday was extended to March 21 at 8:30 a.m. so his public defender could study his case.
Shaw said prosecutors had offered Leonard’s former lawyer – who has since been dropped from the case – a plea deal earlier this month, the details of which she would not disclose. She said the family had pushed for the maximum sentence for negligent homicide, which is 15 years. The minimum sentence is 7½ years.
“No time will ever be enough,” she said. “And seeing him, it’s nerve-wracking, you’re anxious. I dreaded it, but we need to get this process going. I want him in prison.”
Leonard was sitting on the same side of the courtroom gallery as Tyler’s friends and family on Tuesday while he waited for his case to be called. He sat in the back row and spent most of the time looking down at his hands.
Shaw said the legal process has been long and trying for her family. She said she understands that defendants are innocent until proven guilty, but there are some things she would like to see changed.
Leonard’s driver’s license, for example, was not automatically taken away when his bail conditions – which included drug tests and GPS monitoring – were set in October. It wasn’t until Shaw asked prosecutors about his driver’s license and called the governor’s office that it was finally revoked, she said.
Shaw said she’s working with a state legislator to create a bill that would automatically revoke a driver’s license when a person is charged with negligent homicide stemming from a car accident.
“It’s going to be my mission to bring drunk driving back to the forefront and change the laws in Tyler’s honor, so I can maybe save someone else’s child because these laws are not just,” she said. “They are so light.”
Shaw said that even on Tuesday, she was trying to
remember and honor Tyler instead of focusing on Leonard.
“I don’t think about him. I try to forget his name. My focus is Tyler and grieving for him,” Shaw said. “I just look forward to seeing him led away in handcuffs.”
(Leah Willingham can be reached at 369-3322, lwillingham@cmonitor.com or on Twitter @LeahMWillingham.)