SIERRA VISTA — In April 1988, David Molina Morales told a probation officer he could not remember the car crash that took the lives of two Sierra Visa teenage girls — Tracy Johnson, 17 and Brenda Axline, 18.
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He was released on Saturday from an Arizona prison where he served nearly 21 years of a 24-year sentence for manslaughter. He currently lives in Douglas with his mother.
“I have nothing to say,” he remarked.
That’s the problem, said Molly Steffens, Brenda’s mother. “You would think he would show remorse after 21 years (in prison),” she said.
Not only is Morales not sorry for what he did, he will not speak out about drunken driving and use himself as an example of what drinking and driving does, Steffens said.
“He could help teach the public, but he chooses not to,” she said.
Steffens also is dismayed that Morales didn’t serve the full sentence imposed by a Pima County Superior Court judge. “I think since he was sentenced to 24 years, he should have served 24 years,” Steffens said. “I’m very sad, I’m very depressed, I’m very angry.”
She thinks the three-year sentence reduction for good behavior isn’t right, in light that he had some problems while incarcerated.
According to records available on the Arizona Department of Corrections’ Web site, Morales was cited nine times during his time in prison. Three of his disciplinary infractions consisted of possession of narcotics and one for possession of a manufactured weapon. Those four counts along with a “disobey an order” infraction were considered major violations in the prison system.
The other four violations — mail, failure to report, disruption and another disobeying an order — were considered minor. The nine infractions took place between 1990 and 2006.
What concerns Steffens is that prior to Morales’ conviction he had four other drunken-driving incidents.
In an April 12, 1988, pre-sentence report by the Pima County Adult Probation Department, the probation officer outlined the deadly 1987 accident.
“At 7:35 p.m., the defendant drove his 1980 Chevrolet westbound in the eastbound lane at speed estimated between 60 and 80 mph by several motorists who took evasive action to avoid the defendant’s vehicle,” the report states.
Unfortunately, the driver of a 1987 Honda did not know Morales was heading her way, in the wrong direction, as she attempted to pass a truck.
The head-on collision killed Brenda, the driver, and mortally injured Tracy. Brenda was declared dead at the scene, and Tracy was dead upon arrival at a Tucson hospital.
“A Department of Public Safety officer noted a strong odor or intoxicants about the defendant, who was the only occupant of his vehicle in which were found an empty beer can, an empty prescription container for Antabuse, a mist inhaler, and a (unspecified) warning from the Douglas Police Department,” the report stated.
An hour after Morales was airlifted to the Tucson Medical Center “his blood alcohol content was 0.247 percent,” the probation report noted.
In 1987, the percentage was almost 2.5 times the legal limit and today, with a lower threshold, Morales would have been just short of three times over the legal limit in Arizona.
John Johnson, J.J. to his friends, is upset knowing Morales is now a free man, and his daughter Tracy and her friend Brenda, died because of his drunken driving. “But what can you do with the justice system? The law is the law,” the father said.
He too noted Morales never said he was sorry, never apologized to the girls’ families.
The report indicates Morales wrote an apology to the court. The hand-written letter noted he didn’t set out to harm anyone, and he couldn’t remember the death-dealing crash.
“The remorse I feel for the two young women and their families cannot be put in words. I will be in mourning for them and carry them in my thoughts for the rest of my life and they are always in my prayers. If I could give my life for theirs, I would do so gladly,” the report states.
However, Steffens and the Johnsons have never heard any words directly from Morales.
During the number parole hearings for him which they attended, there never was an apology, Steffens said.
“He doesn’t want to say he’s sorry,” Johnson said. “He’s now free, but the girls are not free.”
At the time of the crash, Morales was 39. At the time of the probation report, he indicated he had approached the VA for help in overcoming his alcohol addiction but that he did not receive any treatment. Morales is now in his early 60s.
One of his attorneys noted that as part of an appeal he planned to bring post traumatic stress disorder brought on by Morales’ service in Vietnam. Records indicate he served in the Army for slightly less than two years, received a Bronze Star Medal and was honorably discharged.
However, the Appeals Court affirmed the guilty findings and the sentence.
For Steffens, her coping mechanism, as much as it can be, is working on strengthening drunken driving laws in Arizona.
One of her achievements was working on the special locks that all first-time convicted drunken drivers have to have installed in their vehicles.
The interlock ignition device is a help, but Steffens said she wants laws to specifically sentence drunken drivers to incarceration starting with the first offense, with no one getting off.
“That’s what I struggle to get done,” she said.
Over the years, Steffens and Won Johnson, Tracy’s mother, have worked to keep the memory of their two daughters alive, beyond family remembrances.
The two girls were memorialized in 2000 as two trees were planted a memorial walkway at Buena High School.
Both girls attended the high school, with Tracy a senior at the time she was killed and Brenda enrolled in Cochise College’s nursing program.
On Friday, Steffens went out to the memorial to the two girls on I-10 near the accident scene.
She was hoping that when Morales drove past it on his way to his Douglas home, “he would remember it,” the night of Aug. 1, 1987, “when he killed Brenda and Tracy.”
Comments
T wrote on Mar 14, 2009 9:53 PM:
MB wrote on Mar 5, 2009 7:15 PM:
Yes Let it Go wrote on Mar 5, 2009 9:54 AM:
Scary wrote on Mar 4, 2009 9:02 AM:
kk wrote on Mar 2, 2009 12:45 PM:
t wrote on Mar 2, 2009 10:55 AM:
shirley raber wrote on Mar 2, 2009 8:14 AM:
This man killed her only child and showed no remorse about it. How would you feel if he had killed your only child and showed no remorse? Would you be willing to "just let it go?" "
Student wrote on Mar 2, 2009 8:08 AM:
Let it go wrote on Feb 27, 2009 3:07 PM:
seamd wrote on Feb 27, 2009 10:29 AM:
dc wrote on Feb 27, 2009 8:23 AM: