OpenLetterDewine

Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine
Office of the Attorney General
30 E. Broad St., 14th Floor
Columbus, OH 43215

Dear Attorney General Dewine,

We have never had the opportunity to meet; however, I have been a longtime supporter of yours. It is my sincerest regret that what prompts me to contact you at this juncture is nothing short of a tragedy, one that has taken me nearly a year to find the ability to put to paper these words.

Last year, my husband and I were excited to return to Ohio after having been absent from our home state for six years due to commitments to my career. We returned June 28th, excited about our prospects, happy to be home with friends and family we had missed, and looking forward to welcoming our first child into the world.

On July 5th 2016, I received a knock on my door. It is one of the moments where you can tell what’s coming by the look on the faces of the brave pour souls tasked with carrying the message. I will never forget the look on those officers faces as they began to explain to me that my husband, Steven Russell, had been killed in a car accident.

It is such a poor term, “killed in an accident,” it almost undermines the impact of it all. Such words imply that it was an unavoidable occurrence that was a result of unforeseeable circumstances. It is language used in an attempt to somehow mollify the harshness of the truth.

In the coming days and weeks, I would learn that the driver of the other vehicle, Shannon Hasty, and his passenger had been high on heroin. That this man had numerous driving violations, drug convictions, and court cases related to violence. That despite this history, he somehow retained a driver’s license from the State of Ohio. I would go on to learn that the passenger with him provided an official statement to law enforcement admitting to her own use of the drugs that night and that they had both purchased heroin, yet that no action would be taken against her and no investigation into the person that had sold them the drugs would be opened. It is also worth noting that narcan was used to revive her to consciousness at the scene.

Steven was a mentor in his community who was looked upon with great esteem and love by his peers. His generosity to others was expansive, as was his humbleness and humility with that generosity only fully understood in his absence. Such was articulated in the many meaningful recollections of times when my husband stepped up to help others, things that he did without fanfare or expectation of recognition or reward. Steven was the best of friends, beloved son and brother, a loving husband, an excited expectant father. Such words that I share with you now utterly fail to capture the man that he was and the value he held to others, but it is perhaps a glimpse that provides you with a foundation for understanding of what has been taken from us all.

Though I cannot relate, I understand the severe and long lasting impacts addiction has on those that find themselves addicted to these drugs. My heart breaks for these people, yet I find myself enraged by our policies that simply abdicate the individual’s responsibility. Drugs, unlike a disease, were at one point a choice. Each of these individuals that find themselves now addicted made a conscious and sober decision to engage in an illegal and dangerous activity. Our general sentiment to feel badly for these individuals is a commendable trait of compassion; however, when our desire to show mercy begins to cause the death, dismemberment, and harm of innocents then we need to re-examine our approach.

At a minimum, Shannon Hasty should not have had a driver’s license based on his history, both in criminal and civil records. Our desire to offer him chance, after chance, after chance allowed him the opportunity to murder my husband. Just so we are clear, I know the difference between manslaughter and murder, yet it is murder to me. That’s how it feels, how it’s impacted my life. Shannon’s journey to buy those drugs, take them, and then get back into a car was just as deliberate as loading a gun and firing it. This was not an accident, it was foreseeable, and tragically it had the ability to be stopped if we as a society were willing to say enough is enough and start holding people accountable for their choices.

I know there are complexities to this issue that prevent it from being a simple matter of harsher punishments for offenders, but our approach must change.  One of the latest reports from the Governor’s Highway Safety Association shows drugged driving exceeds drunk driving as a cause of fatal crashes with the statistics showing that drugs were present in 43% of fatal crashes. The Ohio Department of Transportation shows a 25% increase in drugged driving crashes since 2012. In 2016, my husband became a number on one of these reports. One of more than 3500 drug related crashes that occurred in Ohio in 2016. You need only read your newspapers to see similar statistics being reported.

We are at a place where our tendency towards leniency and compassion is now resulting in the death and harm of others. Where is the compassion and mercy for those dying at the hands of those that have made these poor life choices? Where is the pardon for my husband’s death sentence? How, here in a few years, can I look my daughter in the eye and tell her that giving that the man who killed her dad well more than a second chance was more important than her father’s life?

I have struggled a great deal this past year with compassion and forgiveness. I have battled and raged with bitterness and hate. I am better for it. I believe there is room for kindness in our justice system, and I believe there is room for clemency for those that have made a wrong turn, but there has to be limits and there has to be accountability. My father raised me to accept responsibility for the wrong things that I have done and that remorse, while admirable, does not abdicate the need for recompense or prevent me from being disciplined for my wrong doings.

Though there are many avenues and items to address, I specifically would like to highlight the law, originally HB 110, as an ineffective one that has only lent itself to enabling drug users to continue to take these drugs with less fear while increasing the pressure on an already overtaxed system. It has enabled the birth of narcan parties and incidents of people that walk into an emergency room, sign in, and then go to the bathroom and shoot up. While the law states that they get two shots at immunity from prosecution (which is I feel is one too many), there is no effective tracking for heroin overdoses, there is no database, and so repeat offenders, like Shannon and his passenger, continue to go free to wreak havoc on others. What is the point in having a law if it goes unenforced?
The police cite the incident with my husband as an accident scene, but we need to start calling it what it is…it’s a murder scene. My husband died a horrible death, a tragic death, and an avoidable death. I have enclosed a copy of the police report, his autopsy, and a list of the numerous court cases that the man who killed him was involved in and these are only the ones I know about. This is just one of thousands of incidents like this. The system is failing us, it is broken. Not only are the laws insufficient, but the tools which we have to enforce the laws that we do have are equally deficient or nonexistent.

We need to thoughtfully consider our options and develop a plan to instill accountability for these offenders and provide limitations to their privileges until such time that they get the help they need.
As a law-abiding citizen that plays by the rules, I need help.

I need your help, so that someday I can stand in front of my daughter and tell her that her father’s death meant something. That he wasn’t just another statistic, but a catalyst for change in a system and state that is in desperate need of it.

This is a call to action and as one of our state representatives I am counting on you to not let us down. I fully intend to reach out to other state representatives, but I feel you are uniquely positioned to help make a change.

We must establish a tracking system.

We must establish better restrictions on those charged and convicted of drug use to keep them from getting behind the wheel. This also includes anyone that enters into a plea bargain for a lesser charge. It needs to be incorporated into the plea deal. (i.e. plea down to reckless driving)

We need to increase the state minimum coverage for car insurance for those convicted of drunk driving or drugged driving. This also includes anyone that enters into a plea bargain for a lesser charge. It needs to be incorporated into the plea deal.

We must establish a better policy of how we utilize narcan to prevent it from becoming a tool that enables the continued use of drugs instead of the purpose for which it was intended.

I appreciate your time in reading and reviewing this matter and look forward to hearing your plans for the future.
Sincerely,


Miranda Russell