Crash deaths haunt driver

CANTON — A day doesn't pass by when Kramer A. Weaver isn't remembering that October night he swerved into oncoming traffic, slammed into a van and killed a father and his son.

"I feel the pain every day," Mr. Kramer said. "I know there's nothing I can do to take it back. I never ever wanted any of this to happen. I'm sorry for the pain I caused everyone."

Mr. Weaver, 19, of 537 Route 11, Gouverneur, was sentenced Monday in St. Lawrence County Court to five years probation and granted youthful offender status. He pleaded guilty in April to felony criminally negligent homicide.

He admitted to being under the influence of the muscle relaxant cyclobenzaprine when his 1999 Jeep Cherokee crossed into the opposite lane about 8 p.m. Oct. 1, 2007, and hit a 1988 Dodge Colt van driven by James D. "Shorty" Reeve, 30, Gouverneur.

Mr. Reeve and his 4-year-old son, James R., were killed in the crash. His wife, Amanda A., and daughter, Angelina M., survived. State police said then that Mr. Weaver didn't have a prescription for the medication.

Family members were holding pictures of Mr. Reeve and his son while Ms. Reeve's sister read a lengthy victim impact statement. They believe he should "rot in jail for the rest of his life."

Judge Jerome J. Richards said he will accept the criticism for the lenient sentencing of Mr. Weaver. He said Mr. Weaver has been remorseful since the accident and accepted a plea deal to avoid putting the Reeve family through the ordeal of a long trial.

The judge ordered Mr. Weaver to pay $4,108.50 in restitution and revoked his driver's license.

"You are going to be watched very carefully. That's the way it is," he said.

Judge Richards conceded the prosecution's case might have been vulnerable because it would have come down to conflicting views of two medical experts and proving the amount of muscle relaxant in Mr. Weaver's system at the time of the crash was enough to impair his ability.

"I have my own doubts, if the case went to trial, if whether the people would have been successful" he said.