AUSTIN (KXAN) — The dad and mom of Colton Roberts, 20, addressed the man who killed their son in court docket Tuesday.
“All I can do now is write letters to him in a journal that only I will ever see. Things I would say that he’ll never get to hear,” mentioned Bill, the younger man’s father.
Scott Taylor pled guilty to intoxication manslaughter for the August 2021 crash that killed Roberts. The crash came about on Jollyville Road simply after 9 p.m., proper ahead of Roberts was once set to go back to elegance on the University of Texas Dallas.
During their affect statements, Roberts’ folks mentioned how shut they had been with their son and what sort of his neighborhood adored him.
“My 6-foot tall son, healthy, vibrant, so full of life… came home in a small box,” mentioned his mom Tanya.
Judge Julie Kocurek authorized Taylor’s guilty plea in entrance a court docket stuffed with Roberts’ friends and family. She requested Taylor if he had the rest to say.
“I want to say I’m sorry to the family and friends,” he mentioned. “If I could take it back, I would switch places with Colton.”
KXAN in the past dug additional into Taylor’s case, discovering proof of a couple of DWI arrests.
According to his Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) legal historical past document, Taylor has two previous misdemeanor DWIs — one in 2000 and any other in 2010. They passed off in Travis and Comal Counties, respectively.
Unless increased cases are at play, DWIs don’t turn out to be felonies till a person’s 3rd.
A 2015 arrest affidavit displays Austin Police arresting Taylor for DWI on Taylor Draper Lane. According to his DPS report, this in the end turned into a Reckless Driving rate. Misdemeanor court docket information display the DWI rate getting pushed aside, and Taylor as a substitute receiving probation for reckless riding.
“It sickens me that more wasn’t done to stop Scott Taylor,” Tanya mentioned.
Those circumstances passed off ahead of Travis County District Attorney Jose Garza took administrative center, however he mentioned in basic, cases like this outcome from demanding situations with proof.
“My heart is really broken for Colton and his family,” he mentioned. “I think of them and their pain, and it is part of why that in addition to the defendant’s criminal history, we thought a maximum sentence was appropriate under the circumstances.”
The Texas DPS quarterly DWI document under displays the newest tracked recidivism price for folks arrested for and convicted of DWI.
Amber Russell, who’s representing the Roberts circle of relatives in a civil go well with in opposition to Taylor, is now in search of tactics to support state legislation to save you folks with a couple of DWI arrests from getting at the back of the wheel.
“This DWI death was predictable and preventable,” she mentioned. Her company is now attaining out to state lawmakers with the hopes of constructing harsher punishments for repeat DWI offenders and extending the volume of sources for sufferers’ households.
Taylor was once sentenced to twenty years in jail.
[/gpt3]