Sentencing in DUI hit-and-ran

This story is close to my heart. I was friends with the victim and know the family very well. Back in April of 2013, Rob Roy of Lisbon, ME, a Navy ABE Chief, based at Whiting Field in Florida,died as a result of a DUI hit-and-run in Florida.Rob was a 1997 graduate from Lisbon High School and was married to Jessica Roy for nine years with two sons Christian and Brady. The car Rob was a passenger in was struck by Brianna Lynn Strum. She was going 92 MPH when she rear-ended the Dodge Charger that Roy was a passenger in. The car flipped several times, Roy was ejected from the vehicle and died on the scene.

Strum blood alcohol was more than two times above the legal limit to drive. She pleaded no contest to DUI manslaughter in December and was sentenced on Thursday to 11 and a half years in prison and had her driver's license permanently revoked.

Before the sentencing Roy's wife Jessica, trembling with anger, asked for the highest sentence possible of 30 years. Jessica Roy said 'My husband was patriot who would have laid down his life for his country that she left to die in the middle of a dark highway. If that is not a criminal, then I don't know what is.'

More than two dozen of Roy's Navy comrades attended the trial.

Rob's mom, Jane Rivard, thought the sentence was far less severe than her own adding 'when she gets the opportunity to smile again, her family will be there to see it. I will never have that opportunity with my son again.'

Jessica and her sons have since moved back to Maine and are very close with Rob's parents and siblings.