So, on the 16th of December Frankie L. Meza was sentenced for murdering my cousin Matt. I was ill and unable to attend the hearing, but I was reading an article about what transpired and I am floored.

On the one hand, she was punished and she will be spending a chunk of her future in jail. She will serve almost 7 years in prison, and her sentences were put consecutively so she will serve each of them before the next will start. I do not feel like any measure of time will ever be enough to make up for the pain and loss that she makes us all feel on a daily basis. But I am glad she will have to live the rest of her life being constantly reminded of the life she stole from Matt.

Frankie did not plead guilty to the crimes which she committed, she put off the trial starting several times so she could hire this investigator or that one to try and find a loophole to keep her from punishment. In an article from The Leavenworth Times the following are statements made by Frankie, her husband and brother, as well as her attorney;

“When given the opportunity to speak, Meza said she’s never been more sorry about anything in her life.

“I’m truly, truly sorry,” she said.

Her husband, Robert, also spoke.

“She feels this horror every day, every night,” he said.

He asked the Groves family to forgive his wife.

Meza’s brother also spoke, saying his sister cries every day.

Meza’s attorney, Charles Ball, had filed a motion seeking to have Meza placed on probation and entered into a treatment program. He said his client has been engaged in counseling.

Ball said Meza will never forget what happened and always will be sentenced to a maximum security prison in her own mind.

Deputy County Attorney John Bryant argued against Meza being placed on probation.

He said she’d received a diversion in 2000 for a DUI but had repeated the offense this year, resulting in the crash.

Bryant said he believed placing Meza on probation could jeopardize the community.

Sundby said he found there was not a substantial or compelling reason to depart from the state’s sentencing guidelines.

He sentenced Meza to 41 months for the manslaughter charge, which was considered the standard sentence under the state guidelines.”

She cries every day?!? She will NEVER FORGET what happened?!? She is truly, truly sorry?!? If she was truely suffering the despair due to her actions, if she really felt any remorse, she would have pled “Guilty” instead of “No Contest”. She was saying; I can’t fiind a way out of being convicted, so I will let you decide what punishment I get. She murdered a man and she thought probation would be punishment enough. That the “memory of what she did was already sentencing her to prison in her mind”…well if she drinks to point of not knowing what she is doing, how will she be able to remember what she has done?!?

2012 is in its 2nd week, and I have high hopes that with a new year comes more good than bad. I’m not making a resolution this year…I won’t make myself a promise I may not be able to keep. I am gonna try to start over mentally, I am hopeful …things seem better.

If only I could mute my neighbors, maybe that could be my resolution next year *thinks*?!?