Jason Thompson's Victim Impact Statement

August 18, 2011— -- The following is an excerpt of a statement Justin Thompson, the husband of Erin Thompson, gave in court at the sentencing hearing of Justine Winter on June 6.

Well…uh…it would be impossible for me to explain the gravity of my grief…and loss of my…entire family. It would be impossible for any of us and I'm, I'm blessed that I have so much family that have been able to articulate and, and, so well, um, the people that they were…in so many words, what we've been through. But grief and loss is equivalent to the amount that you've loved. And, I could never love anybody as much as I loved them. People would look at us, if you could see in this picture, if you hold up the picture of Erin and I… If you held it up so everybody can see it.

Erin was like…the best blessing I could ever imagine, I've spent all my life looking for love. I've given and received love throughout my entire life to, to everybody I could but no one could even hold a candle to what I shared with Erin. And I—and people at our wedding, people who saw us together on a daily basis could attribute to that, who could test [sic], could testify to that fact. That, you…you couldn't find a mo—a more…beautiful unity. And if—with this picture of Erin and Caden that we've all seen in the papers over and over again…this is the love that they showed with each other and with the world always, all—all—all the time. Erin— Caden was my stepson but I loved him as my own, we, we would travel together on special—we had special days every year that we would just have as adventure days that, just him and the man who would share in it, to honor him, and his…and his, him emerging into adulthood or, adolescence. I had planned to do that my entire life.

Justine, all I've really wanted and needed from you and your family…is an expression of compassion, and accountability…for having taken these people, my love, my family, from this world. For you all to attempt…to understand and show remorse for the enormity of this loss for each and every one of us.

As a school counselor, the thing I value and try to teach to our children at the most young age is when you've caused harm to somebody…the most important thing is to apologize. Show concern for what you have done, and how—and try to make amends. But have you ever once, any of you looked us in the eye and shown, and expressed even the slightest bit…of sincere…sorrow…for everything that we've been through? We've waited and waited and waited for that. Like you can—have heard from all of our family, we, we've opened and we've reserved in our hearts a place for you, our lives are forever entwined.

I, I do not…I've chosen not to believe that you, in crashing your car that night, wanted to harm or would ever think about harming them. But it has been very, very, very difficult to hold onto that thought. Giving [sic] all the facts. Given your actions. Given that you've been led, by these two men, and influenced by them, to not do what was—is most important in all of this, and to show and demonstrate to us that you are sorry, for having taken them. You have said in your statement that they have told you that that is inappropriate. Nothing is more appropriate…than to have shown us that, and we would've embraced you, from the moment I laid eyes on you. And accept your apology.

But instead, as we all have known through these years that…you haven't, you've…turned a blind eye to the facts…at hand. The facts that we could all see. You put up a pa—uh, a picture of that crash, and every person can see with their own eyes without spending two weeks of deliberation, without trying to paint a different picture of the facts, where that accident occurred, and the fact that you crashed into my family killing all of them. At 87 miles an hour, in our lane, my, my wife, whose most precious thing in your life is her children and our unborn baby, one, a baby that I would kiss her stomach every night, and whisper to my baby that I love you, in anticipation of finally…being a father. You—to try to blame her for, inno—for, for this accident, to try to say that she was at fault when she would do nothing, and when the facts point to the fact that she had seen you coming, in her lane, slowed down to almost 20 miles an hour to—but, she could not get off the road.

It is now time, please, to stop…trying to say to the world, these men, at the lead, start leading to your—listening to your heart, and quit saying that you are not responsible, for their deaths. Whether or not we'll never know, what…your intentions that night, why you were in that lane and why you were speeding so fast, it—the jury and everybody, it is seen so clear. I'm not going to tell you how you felt, and I'm…amazed that anybody in your family has tried to tell you how you were feeling. That the lawyers were trying to tell you how you felt.

It's just time now to accept the truth, and the facts that it's your actions alone, that have led to the deaths of my entire family, and our most precious lives and our…

My future… everything was erased that day. 40 years old, finally just ready to, you know, find my—I had found my true love and was ready to have a family. Am I—would I ever be able to do that, you—we talk about true love, I—it was, it's a storybook, my life was. And I've lived through, far more loss before this.

I lost a sister when I was in fourth grade to drowning, my mom was lost to cancer when I was 19. Each of these like 10 years apart, I've—my house was burned down, my grandparents' house was burned down, I've lost, lost and lost and lost and nothing, nothing…can hold a candle to this.

You stated that you wanted, in your statement…to help with our healing. However you could. Well, the very first step, is admitting, that it is your actions…that killed them. I've always wanted…I always felt the only way for you to understand all of this is for us to meet, to us a family, to get—to, to talk together, for you to share your story, share what you've been through. [10:34:39:02] Share, for your family to share, again, why they've encouraged your decisions…why you've gone this direction, to blame us. To have some… private investigator come to my door, in the middle of the morning, and wake me up and hand me a paper saying that, you've been served. We are suing you, for your pain and suffering.

It, that's just…could anything be farther from compassion.

But I've—so I've wanted, I wanted to meet with you, I've wanted to have time to share our stories, to have more time than in this sentencing, to have you know who they were and how our lives have changed and how your lives will change. And I've always wanted…to ask you, after having that little bit of better understanding…what do you think. Is there a repentance…for having taken, all of this, all of them…from all of us. I thought maybe, as I'm trying to write an impact statement to the court, you know, what do I think…is fair, I— [10:36:14:09] It's impossible for me to know, how long it will take for you to learn the lessons you need to gain from all of this. Impossible for me to know…if you're capable of…compassion or remorse or understanding that, what you did…deserves…consequence.

We've talked about the amount of lo—years lost…in their lives, the potential that we'll never get to witness. The baby I will never get to hold.

As we've all stated, we never wanted you to spend the rest of your life in jail, that was absurd. That doesn't serve anybody and it doesn't serve you. But there's a bigger message here, Justine, to the world. That even in an impulsive, heartbroken moment, you can forever change people's lives. And when you do so, the world has to know, there is a severe consequence…for killing inno—innocent, loving, beautiful people. As much as your family wants to insulate and protect you from that consequence…it doesn't serve anybody, to avoid it.

So I'm hoping…the last way, that you can show us and help with our healing, is to finally, accept…those facts. The truth, of your driving…truth of where the accident occurred, truth of the devastating consequences of it. And to willingly, out of respect for our family, out of a good model of citizen, to prevent these thing—this similar thing from happening to anybody else in the future, to accept and quit trying to escape…the sentence that you're about to receive.

Have you all read the—were you able to read our impact statements, Justine…?

When the day comes that you are willing and wanting to visit with us, and explain in your heart and make amends, or explain to us, how this all has affected you, and that you do hold, and understand the gravity of our loss and you're willing and wanting to help us honor, and…them, and continue… the love that they gave this world, by knowing that…we'll be here.

Watch the full story on the latest episode of "20/20" online.