William and Trudy Mathews came and went mostly in silence over the months as they attended court hearings for the man accused of killing their son, a Marine home after a tour in Iraq, in a drunken-driving accident.
The Columbia residents kept their feelings behind closed doors, rarely speaking publicly, even when a judge rejected a plea agreement that would have sent the driver, an illegal immigrant, to prison and brought the case to an end.
But outside an Ellicott City courthouse yesterday, the couple expressed the frustration they felt after a judge sentenced the man responsible for their son's death to 10 years in prison.
Trudy Mathews said she was relieved that a chapter was closing but added, "I'm not going to get consolation from this."
Of her son, she said, "It is ironic, because he fought for the system and it failed him."
Howard County Circuit Judge Louis A. Becker yesterday sentenced Eduardo Morales-Soriano to 10 years in prison for the Thanksgiving 2006 crash that killed Cpl. Brian Mathews and his companion Jennifer Bower. The judge said he took into account not only the Laurel man's high blood-alcohol level at the time of the accident but also his status as an illegal immigrant.
The sentencing also completes an unusual legal twist. The 27-year-old defendant's guilty plea to two counts of negligent manslaughter yesterday was his second in the case. In January, Judge Lenore R. Gelfman rejected a plea deal in which Morales-Soriano would have served eight years in prison, despite previously binding herself to the agreement. After that ruling, Gelfman removed herself from presiding over any subsequent matters in the case.
The sentence imposed by Becker exceeds suggested state guidelines for the charges. The judge said he made his decision "primarily because of the high alcohol read." Morales-Soriano's blood-alcohol level was 0.32 percent, four times the legal limit, at the time of the crash, police have said.
Becker said he also considered an unusual facet of the case: Morales-Soriano, a native of Mexico, was living in the country illegally.
"This court cannot ignore that the defendant has violated the law with his illegal presence here," Becker said.
The judge did not elaborate on how Morales-Soriano's immigration status affected the sentencing.
At 10:20 p.m. on Nov. 23, 2006, Bower, 24, stopped the Toyota Corolla that she was driving at a red light at Routes 175 and 108 in Columbia. She and Mathews, 21, were eastbound on Route 175.
