Justice

Personally, I don't think justice can ever truly be served. Our lives are forever changed. I'm not sure it will ever get better, it'll just be different. Below is a news article about the conviction of dump truck driver M. Jakscht:

"Dump truck driver convicted in deaths of 4 bikers"

PHOENIX

A dump truck driver was convicted Wednesday in the 2010 deaths of 4 motorcyclists in north Phoenix.

It was the second trial in Maricopa County Superior Court for 47-year-old Michael Jakscht. A jury deadlocked 9-3 in favor of acquittal in August 2011.

Prosecutors say Jakscht faces up to 21 years in prison for each of 4 manslaughter charges and 15 years for each of 5 aggravated assault charges, which all can be stacked at sentencing. He also was found guilty of 4 counts of endangerment.

Jakscht was accused of plowing his 12-ton truck into a group of 9 motorcyclists stopped at a Carefree Highway traffic light on March 25, 2010.

Prosecutors claimed Jakscht tested positive for methamphetamine after the accident and acted with reckless disregard. Defense attorneys blamed brake failure.

"This is an awesome day for all of our friends and loved ones who have been here for us," said Barbara Rich, mother to victim Dayle Downs-Totonchi.

For her family it's been quite an emotional journey. They were there for nearly every day of the first trial, as well as the second one.

"I hope this never ever happens to anyone else where they go through a trial of this scenario."

Rich testified during the aggravated sentencing phase, where jurors decide if Jakscht deserves a more severe punishment.

"Every moment of the day and night I have her ashes sitting in my bedroom on the TV stand, when all this is over with, we will have a memorial," testified Rich.

Paul Totonchi, Dayle's husband, also testified. He told jurors that for the longest time, he just felt lost without her.

"How do you give words to your life dropped out from under you," said Sandra Nachand, who lost her husband Clyde, a former commander in the navy. They'd been married 43 years.

She says there isn't much she remembers about the day he died, all she remembers is going to bed and feeling alone and empty.

"Whenever anything bad happened he was always there for me and he wasn't, the other side of the bed was empty," said Nachand.

"I broke every rib on my right side, twelve of them," testified Ernie Lizarraga, one of the motorcyclists injured in the collision.

Once a Phoenix Fire captain who taught fitness to other firefighters, Lizarraga suffered a traumatic brain injury and spent 6 weeks in a coma. His wife Lori told jurors the rehab process was just devastating.

"He had to relearn to breathe first. Once he relearned how to breathe he had to relearn how to swallow and once swallowing happened he had to learn to sit up," said Lizarraga.

Jakscht faced all of them during testimony, his hands folded on the table in front of him.

Jakscht could spend the rest of his life in prison. Each manslaughter charge carries a maximum penalty of 21 years in prison.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

http://www.myfoxphoenix.com/story/19288364/2012/08/15/phoenix-driver-is-convicted-in-deaths-of-4-bikers