Family members of two Midwestern residents packed a Pitkin County courtroom last week, telling a judge why a Basalt resident should be held accountable for an accident she caused on Highway 133 in August. Indiana student MeleynaKistner died and her boyfriend, Daniel Thul, was injured. Aspen Public Radio’s Elise Thatcher has this story on what comes next for their families and the defendant.
Meleyna Kistner’s family was looking toward the future after last week’s disrupted sentencing hearing. Proceedings were delayed after Basalt resident and defendant Christine Tinner had an emotional break down in court. She’s been charged with driving carelessly resulting in death and injury. Ruth Carlson is Meleyna Kistner's mother, and described her feelings while leaving the courtroom Friday: "I'm not worried about the sentence. "
Judge Erin Fernandez Ely allowed family members, more than twenty in all, air their anger, sadness, and sentencing requests in court. That was on Thursday and Friday and Carlson says that time made a difference.“If [you're not] given that opportunity, the closure isn't there," she reflected on Friday. "And it lingers. And now we can move on. And we are."
Judge Ely is considering up to a year in jail, as well as what she called "a lot" of restitution. Tinner can accept extended probation instead of time in jail, but that's not something the judge can mandate. And there's other ways Tinner could, in a way, pay off the emotional debt of having killed someone while driving. Dan Shipp is her attorney.
"The concept of restorative justice... is to take people that have been involved in a crime, and that are rehabilitatable, and to take them and to have community input into things that they can do in the community-- that would benefit, in this case, the memory of Meleyna."
Colorado State Patrol troopers at the scene decided they did not have probable cause to test Tinner for drugs and alcohol, and determined those wasn’t factor in the accident. Members of the victims’ families have an issue with that. Shipp said in court he would urge Tinner to lobby for mandatory drug tests during certain accidents.
Heather Kistner is MeleynaKistner's stepmother. She and others want regulations beefed up to include this:"Death or serious bodily injury at the scene of a motor vehicle accident, you test. Both drivers. Everybody in the car."Kistner has been in touch with State Representative MIllieHamner to lobby on the matter.
"In a perfect world we would have started some of it in November, right after the election," she said Friday. "So a lot of the [state legislature] agendas are already set for now. But there's other cases, other families that have reached out to us after reading about this."Kistner says those families have also lost a loved one in a car accident.
Big picture change seems to be what matters most to Kistner and other members of the family. Carlson describes her intentions this way. "We hope to honor my daughter's death and bring change so that others are safe."
They've already had success. Carlson convinced the Colorado Department of Transportation, or CDOT, to add rumble strips to the section of Highway 133 where her daughter died. CDOT says they'll be added in the late summer or early fall.
A court date this week is the next official step towards finalizing a sentence for Christine Tinner. "We will have a hearing on [Tuesday] the 17th to have a status conference," said Shipp on Friday. " To see when Ms. Tinner may be mentally and physically available to come back and conclude the sentencing hearing." As of Monday morning, Tinner had been released from the hospital and receiving, according to Shipp, "round the clock care to give her support and to keep her mind occupied."
