It is gratifying to learn that the Merrimack County attorney is likely to upgrade the existing misdemeanor charge brought against Jessica Warren for hitting and killing Patrick Bettens to a felony. Patrick is gone and his friends and family have only justice left to them. Under the law, it is not just and commensurate with the crime to charge Jessica Warren with a misdemeanor that will neither result in significant incarceration nor long-term loss of license.
At the time she hit and drove over Patrick Bettens, killing him, Warren’s license had been suspended for several driving while intoxicated offenses, and she had been charged and found guilty only nine months before with operating with a suspended license. Warren is someone who poses a serious threat to public safety, who should be incarcerated, and who should not be allowed to drive.
As the city now acknowledges, Warren’s driving history compels a felony charge under the law. In sentencing the driver who killed Tyler Shaw, Judge McNamara said this: “It wasn’t a homicide, but it wasn’t an accident. It was a tragedy.” Neither Tyler’s death nor Patrick’s death should have happened. The events that killed them were not accidents. Both were tragedies and both compel punitive action that is serious and substantial. Our system of justice must take whatever actions it can to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again. A felony charge and conviction with a just sentence will achieve that goal.
LESLIE LUDTKE
Concord