For five years, as she walked distraught victims of drunken drivers through the legal process, Jane McClanahan wondered whether they felt she couldn't understand what they were going through. The former president of the Central Maryland chapter of MADD had never personally been touched by drunken driving.
"I didn't have a story," McClanahan said Friday. "Now I do."
The Lusby woman spoke as she left the courtroom where the man who struck and injured her 70-year-old mother was sent to jail. The experience has given McClanahan an eye-opening perspective on how overwhelming it can be for a victim to deal with the paperwork, the financial issues, the worry and the turmoil of lives turned upside-down.
"People ask, 'Why me, why my son, why my daughter' " the Mothers Against Drunk Driving advocate said. "Well, why my mom?"
Eva Codi, 70, was struck and seriously hurt in April by an impaired motorist who prosecutors said purposely drove head-on into her SUV to commit suicide and kill someone else. The defense disputed the allegation. McClanahan said she knows firsthand that dealing with the paperwork is as important as caring for a victim, and that giving an impact statement in court is less intimidating than victims might think. She said preparing to be the spokeswoman for her family before a judge had given her pause.
"It was easier than I expected. I looked at the judge, and I told her how I felt," she said.
On Friday, Judge Michele D. Jaklitsch sentenced Lee Dominick Abbitt, 21, of Laurel to two months in jail followed by house arrest and five years of supervised probation for second-degree assault and related offenses.
In what McClanahan said was a victory for MADD, Abbitt was ordered to have an ignition interlock device to prevent drunken driving on his car for the first year of his probation. The organization wants such devices for every person convicted of drunken driving.
Assistant State's Attorney Thomas J. Mitchell said Abbitt intentionally crashed into McClanahan's mother's car because he wanted to kill himself "and take someone with him."
Codi was bringing chicken home for dinner when the crash occurred. She was making a right turn from Solley Road onto Heather Lane in Pasadena, where she lives with her son and his family, when Abbitt's southbound car crossed the yellow line and struck her SUV.
Codi said she has limited use of her left arm now and other physical problems, and is nervous about getting a car.
"There is no more bingo, no more line dancing, no more summer vacations to Amish country with her sisters, no more baby-sitting for my niece," McClanahan said.
Abbitt, who was 20 at the time of the crash, had a blood-alcohol level of .07 percent and had also used drugs, prosecutors said. A driver with that alcohol level is considered impaired.
Abbitt's attorney, Anna G. Aita, said he did not intend to hurt anyone. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder after a suicide attempt in January 2009. A month before the April crash he sought assistance to pay for treatment and has since obtained that assistance.
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