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OGDEN — For the first three months after Tim Strebel lost his youngest boy, Blake, he spent every day in the shower shedding tears.
"Not just a little cry, but enormous sobs of grief," he told Second District Judge Michael Lyon.
He said he hoped the water would wash away his pain.
"It has been about two years since Blake's death. Seven hundred and seven days and not one has passed that I haven't thought about Blake and missed him terribly."
Blake Strebel, 19, and his friend, roommate and co-worker Derek Jasper, 18, were killed when the car they were in was struck by a vehicle driven by Mark Mora, 19, in an April 2009 accident. Mora, who was 17 when he ran through a red light while trying to evade police, was sentenced by Lyon Wednesday to consecutive prison terms of one to 15 years for automobile homicide and failure to stop at the command of police officers, both second-degree felonies.
Family members of both victims and Mora spoke at the sentencing hearing, which was emotional for them, Mora and even the judge. Tim Strebel said he'll miss the way his son would walk through the door and say "in a Western-type drawl: 'Hi, Pa.'"
"His dreams are gone, our dreams are gone and our dreams for him are gone," he said.
Susan Strebel called her son her "final jewel, the peacemaker, the thoughtful one." She said hatred and bitterness are not what her son would have wanted and she expressed her wish that Mora take advantage of whatever opportunities are afforded to him in prison.
His dreams are gone, our dreams are gone and our dreams for him are gone.
–Tim Strebel
"I wish Mark only the best," she said.
Her sentiments were echoed by Jasper's mother, Jennifer.
"We hope, especially, some good will come out of this. For Mark, we hope he takes every opportunity to become a good citizen and member of society."
Jennifer Jasper said her family lost a son, brother, uncle, but also a future when Derek Jasper was killed. She said he was one who was filled with compassion.
"He would provide service to anyone," she said. "He would go to anyone's house in the middle of the night to help them overcome loneliness and depression. He loved everyone."
She said the last two years have been hard on her family, who have suffered from lack of sleep and panic attacks since the accident. One of her daughters even had to leave the home, and Ogden, following the accident.
"I never thought I'd have to pick out the burial plot for one of my children," she said. "We've had a lot of pain and heartache in my family. The hardest thing for me was having to wait for morning to tell my children."
Police say Mora and a passenger, Andrew Michael Gomez, 21, were in a Cadillac that was fleeing from police on April 22. Officers had tried to stop the vehicle Mora was driving because they suspected Mora and Gomez, who are known gang members, had been involved in a recent home burglary.
The sheer depravity of this incident should be a factor. This is criminal times 10.
–Chris Shaw, prosecutor
But Mora sped off, with police in pursuit, and ended up running a red light at the intersection of 28th Street and Washington Boulevard, crashing into a vehicle carrying Blake Strebel and Derek Jasper.
The crash instantly killed both Strebel, a WSU student, and Jasper, who was anticipating a mission call from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints within a week. The two young men were roommates and co-workers at a Domino's Pizza. They were headed home after playing basketball. Strebel also had plans for an LDS mission and both were looking forward to pursuing careers in law enforcement, according to family members.
Prosecutor Chris Shaw called the pre-sentence report "wholly inadequate" because he said it ignored a number of aggravating factors, including Mora's criminal history in the juvenile courts, which included five alcohol-related incidents in addition to riot and assault. He also said the crime fit the classification of involving unusually extensive injuries and victims who were particularly vulnerable.
"The sheer depravity of this incident should be a factor," Shaw said. "This is criminal times 10. No one, but no one, goes through that intersection at 80 mph. No one, but no one goes through a red light at that intersection."
He said this was added to the fact that Mora was evading police at the time, his vehicle becoming "3,500 pounds of projectile."
"These two young men were caught in that crossfire," Shaw said. "Literally. There was nothing they could do."
Mora spoke quietly and with emotion as he expressed his sadness over the lives that were lost "because of choices I made."
"I never intended to hurt anybody," he said. "I want the court to know I accept full responsibility for what I've done. I do want to say, for what it's worth and with all my heart, I'm sorry."
His attorney, Michael Boyle, said his client understood that prison time was necessary, but hoped for concurrent sentences instead of consecutive ones.
"He understands when something like this happens, somebody needs to pay and he is willing to pay," Boyle said.
Judge Michael Lyon explained in court why he chose to run the sentences consecutively, citing many of the same aggravating factors prosecutors pointed out. He said the case was difficult, not only because of the loss of the "wonderful, young, promising" young men who were killed, but also because Mora's actions "irrevocably changed his life and the life of his family."
He expressed his apologies to the victims' families and told them he hoped they would find solace in the memory of their sons and said he hoped the compassion of the victims' families would help Mora turn his life around.
"I am so impressed with the families of these victims, who seem to bear no anger towards you, but a sense of forgiveness," Lyon said. "I hope you will find that (forgiveness) inspiring and you will dignify their confidence in you."
Melissa Dominguez, Mora's aunt, said the families' forgiveness meant "everything."
"That was everything he wanted to hear and for the rest of the family, for us, to hear," she said. "For their forgiveness … I don't know how they can do that, but it was everything for them to forgive them for what happened."
She said her nephew is a "good kid" who she feels will prove that he is worthy of the faith that has been placed in him by the Jasper and Strebel families.
"He is going to step up to what he needs to face," Dominguez said. "He's going to make himself better. He's going to go to school. He's going to try to work in there."
E-mail:emorgan@ksl.com
