(By John Terhune/Journal & Courier) Evan J. Erickson arrives at Tippecanoe Superior Court 2 Wednesday, August 9, 2006, to be sentenced for a crash he caused on Interstate 65 on January 2. Erickson pleaded guilty to operating a vehicle while intoxicated causing death with having a prior conviction for drunken driving. The crash he caused killed Diane M. Snow, 57, of Indianapolis.

By Joe Gerrety
jgerrety@journalandcourier.com

Judge Thomas Busch lamented another tragic meeting between "two obviously very good families" before imposing a 10-year prison sentence in a fatal drunken-driving case.

On one side of the aisle Wednesday in Tippecanoe Superior Court 2 was the family of Diane M. Snow, 57, an MBA, volunteer and new grandmother from Indianapolis who was helping to care for her aging mother.

On the other side was the family of Evan J. Erickson, a former missionary in Africa who has been volunteering with the National Alliance on Mental Illness while out on bond following his arrest after the crash.

Erickson, 27, who was living in Lafayette at the time, had a blood-alcohol content of 0.24 percent -- three times the legal limit for driving in Indiana -- when he caused a crash Jan. 2 on Interstate 65 that killed Snow.

Snow's only daughter, Andrea Williams of Illinois, the only member of Snow's family to address the court, asked the judge what more Erickson could have done to earn the 20-year maximum penalty under his plea agreement.

Williams pointed out that Erickson had a previous conviction for drunken driving in 2001. By his own account, she stressed, he was sober when he made the decision to stop in Indianapolis during a trip home from Richmond to buy a bottle of vodka, which he drank while he drove.

Josh Tarrh, the Indiana State Police trooper who investigated the crash, described in graphic detail the massive injuries Snow suffered when Erickson's northbound car crossed the median, became airborne and landed on top of Snow's southbound car.

Williams said those injuries prevented family members from properly saying goodbye to her mother.

She noted that Erickson's parents and eight other family members were in court to support him. It was the kind of unconditional love Snow showed for her daughter and her only grandson, Williams said.

"He took that from me," she said of Erickson.

Erickson apologized to Williams and Snow's siblings and said he didn't expect them to forgive him.

Busch pointed out no aggravating circumstances, noting that Erickson's prior drunken-driving conviction was already reflected in the Class B felony to which he pleaded guilty.

The judge said he hoped both families would find a way to move forward, but he declined to impose more than the 10-year "advisory" sentence under Indiana law.

She said a shorter sentence would depreciate the seriousness of the crime, adding that once a repeat offender drives drunk and injures another person, the time has passed for a rehabilitative sentence.

To Snow's relatives, he said, "The anger you feel is something that I can't take away from you. ... It's my hope that you can survive -- all of you -- and that you can look past the day of your loss."