Families clash at man's sentencing in drunken driving fatality
Girl killed in '06 was from Everett
CAMBRIDGE - Moments after a judge sentenced Robert E. Getz to 10 to 12 years in prison for a drunken driving crash that killed a 16-year-old Everett girl, the two families involved engaged in a fiery exchange that forced guards to escort them from the courtroom.
When a relative of victim Krystyl Poirier bade Getz goodbye as he left the courtroom in handcuffs, Getz's family looked back in dismay. One said the comment had gone too far, and Poirier's family shot back that they had suffered the greater loss.
"You're lucky your son's not dead," said Clark Heighton, 41, of Wakefield, the victim's uncle.
Getz, 29, of Charlestown, has a lengthy record of traffic offenses, including a previous drunken driving conviction. His driver's license was suspended after he was involved in a crash about a month before the fatal head-on collision, which occurred two blocks from the Poirier home. Getz's license was suspended at the time of the fatal crash, but he told his lawyer at the time that he had not seen a notice from the Registry of Motor Vehicles.
In Middlesex District Court yesterday, Judge Hiller B. Zobel said Getz showed an "utter disregard" by his actions and imposed $1,600 in fines and 15 years probation, during which Getz cannot operate a motor vehicle.
On April 8, 2006, Getz was driving west on a connector road between Santilli and Swetzer circles in Everett when he crossed into the eastbound lane and struck a Saturn, in which Poirier was a passenger, causing it to overturn. The driver - Christopher McFeely, 21, of Everett - suffered a fractured hip, a shattered pelvic bone, and a broken leg.
Yesterday, McFeely told the judge that he had to learn to walk and be self-sufficient again. McFeely, who lives next door to the Poiriers, said he has struggled with depression and drug abuse since the fatality.
"He took a lot away from me, my friend, myself," McFeely said in his remarks, during which he paused several times to compose himself. "He'll never know the real damage that he's done."
Brenda Poirier, Krystyl's mother, told the judge she, too, will never be the same. "He is just as guilty as if he pulled the trigger of a gun," she said.
Afterward, Getz's lawyer, Wayne Murphy, asked the judge for leniency, saying that the state minimum of five years would reform Getz, a college graduate who had worked in client services at
"There were decisions made I wish I could take back," Getz told the judge, before the sentencing, adding that shortly after the crash, his sister was killed by her husband. The day they buried her, Getz said he understood the severity of what he had done.
Getz's mother, Karin Shaffer, told Zobel that her son has made "dumb choices," and that she understood the Poiriers' plight.
"He's not an animal," Shaffer said. "He's not a murderer."
But the judge said that considering his past, Getz had ample opportunity to consider his actions and reflect on the adage, "If you drive, don't drink."
"This case is a paradigm of legislative concern," Zobel said.
Last month, Zobel sentenced Getz to the minimum five years in prison for manslaughter and put off sentencing on the remaining charges until yesterday. Getz was charged with manslaughter while operating a motor vehicle under the influence of alcohol, motor vehicle homicide, operating under the influence, operating under the influence causing serious bodily injury, and operating a motor vehicle after a suspended license. Yesterday, Zobel revoked the minimum sentence and imposed the 10-to-12 year judgment.
As the families left the courtroom escorted by court officers, Brenda Poirier said no sentence would have sufficed.
"Nothing's ever going to be enough," Poirier said, weeping.
April Simpson can be reached at asimpson@globe.com
