Scott Kinkel sobbed and told a packed courtroom
– somber and silent but for the sounds of several people crying
– about the moment he told his daughter Megan that her 15-year-old
sister Erin had died in a car accident.
By Lori Stuenkel
Gilroy – Scott Kinkel sobbed and told a packed courtroom – somber and silent but for the sounds of several people crying – about the moment he told his daughter Megan that her 15-year-old sister Erin had died in a car accident.
The man held responsible for Erin Kinkel’s death, Anthony Scott McDowell, 19, sat just steps away and wiped his eyes with a tissue while hearing Kinkel say that that was the last time the oldest of his three surviving daughters would speak of her big sister.
The tragedy of last Aug. 1 came to life again for the 20 people who came to speak in front of Judge Susan Bernardini in Santa Clara County Superior Court, San Martin, before McDowell is sentenced for misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter. Erin Kinkel was riding in the bed of McDowell’s pick-up truck as he drove on Redwood Retreat Road. McDowell failed to negotiate a curve in the road, went off the pavement and struck a tree. Kinkel was thrown from the truck and died. McDowell pleaded guilty nearly 10 months later on June 27, the day he was to go to trial.
Despite Kinkel’s emotion-filled, two-hour statement from the witness stand Monday, it was one of only a few times McDowell would show any emotion during the first day of his sentencing hearing. It is expected to conclude today.
Last Monday, Aug. 1, marked a year since the crash that killed Erin Kinkel, a Gilroy High School honor student, a three-sport athlete, and theater buff, said her father, the first to speak Monday.
“A crime has been committed. A beautiful life has been taken,” Kinkel said, describing his daughter’s death as leaving a “path of destruction a mile wide.”
More than 70 people who filled the courtroom – while even more waited outside – listened attentively to Kinkel tell of the pain caused by Erin’s death, the agony felt by him and his family absent a display of remorse from McDowell, the lessons learned from the accident, and the beautiful life that was cut short. Sniffles and choked sobs filled the courtroom, at times spilling into cries of anguish from Erin Kinkel’s friends.
In the jury box sat close family members, and friends who would also make statements later in the day. Two more people are expected to make statements today on behalf of the victim, including Miki Kinkel, Erin’s mother. McDowell and his friends and family will then have the opportunity to speak.
Frequently during Monday’s hearing, Miki Kinkel looked at McDowell, sitting at the defense table within feet of the jury box and facing the witness stand. At times her face contorted as she was overcome by tears; at others her glare was icy, particularly when Scott Kinkel said they waited a year for an “I’m sorry.”
On July 29, three days short of the one-year anniversary of their daughter’s death, Scott Kinkel said they finally met with McDowell and his lawyer, and received that apology. Kinkel has forgiven McDowell, he said, but that does not release McDowell of responsibility.
Scott Kinkel told Judge Bernardini he was offended by the report written by the Santa Clara County Probation Department. In it, the probation officer said McDowell does not feel he deserves to be punished or placed on probation because it will not bring the victim back, Kinkel said.
“Even the harshest punishment won’t be a pinprick of the finger compared to what my family has endured,” Scott Kinkel said.
Most of the 20 people who spoke of Erin Kinkel on Monday left McDowell’s punishment – which can include jail time, probation, fines or community service – in the hands of Judge Bernardini. But a few, including Kinkel’s grandmother Laura Gelman, asked for jail time.
Gelman asked for the most serious punishment possible – one year in jail.
“As the driver and therefore the responsible adult, Anthony needs to be punished severely … and he needs to live with that for a long, long time,” she said.
Gelman said she felt like she had lost several children when Erin died because she feels like her daughter Miki Kinkel, in a way, died, too. It has affected the relationship between the tight-knit mother and daughter, she said. Now, a day cannot go by without every member of the family shedding tears.
Gelman and Miki Kinkel own a San Jose bridal boutique together, but the business has suffered this past year. Two women who work in the shop said Monday that customers have left because it is difficult for the women to deal with happy, or demanding, brides.
“There’s always tears in that office. And I just hug them and I pray that they’ll get over it soon, but you know they can’t do that,” Mary Campos said.
One man, who was Erin’s sparring coach at West Coast Tae Kwon Do in Morgan Hill, criticized McDowell as being a man of weak character. It was a comment repeated often during the hearing. Darren Gaitan said McDowell should not be allowed to speak publicly to teenagers about driving safety, something Scott Kinkel has encouraged McDowell to do and which McDowell says he wants to do.
“The reason being: How are you going to speak to teenagers about the value of life when you didn’t value the life that was in your car that night?” Gaitan said.
