Teen Driving Deaths' Recurring Pain

During a sentencing hearing, Cathy Hill looks at a photo of her late son, Chad, that is held by Commonwealth's Attorney William Neely. (Tracy A. Woodward -- The Washington Post)

She also noted that Lapier's elder brother was killed in a motorcycle accident in 1996. "I think he's dead inside," she said. "He never sheds a tear."

But Wednesday, Hill's feelings changed. She read the letter Lapier submitted to Ledbetter as part of the sentencing package and was enraged at the picture it painted. The letter described the young men's trip to a strip club in Maryland the night before the accident, drinking beer as they went, and then deciding as dawn approached to test the car's speed.

"Coming back my friends pointed me down Massaponnax Church Road. They wanted to see what my car could do," he wrote. The Hills and the O'Neals said that they were furious that the letter painted their sons as the primary instigators in drinking and going to the strip club and that they didn't find it remotely repentant.

They also saw Lapier's demeanor as a sign of his lack of remorse. During the 90-minute sentencing, he mostly had his face buried in his hands, his face on the table or his left hand extended vertically along the side of his face, like a shield against the eyes of his friends' families.

His own parents sat behind him. His father, Gary, told the other parents from the witness stand that "the tears on your face can't equal the tears that boy has shed in his heart." His mother, Sharon, testified that she knew their pain, having lost a son in an accident. She said Justin cried many times on her shoulder "and said, 'I wish I could take Chris or Chad's place.' "

Lapier told his friends' parents that he never sought to shift blame. "I was trying to take responsibility by pleading guilty," he said, describing his lifestyle now as monklike. "I can't come talk to you all because I don't know what to say."

The ripples continued after the sentencing. A neighbor who bought beer for the friends was sentenced to two months in jail. Lapier is waiting to hear whether he can stay in the Navy when he gets out of jail. Cathy Hill, who said she just returned home from treatment at a psychiatric facility, will try to take care of the rest of her family.

"The only thing that keeps me from killing myself is my two [younger] sons," she said. "But I can't be a mother to them right now because I can't stand being around them. I'm terrified of losing them."

Although Hill said she is unable to work, she still goes every other Wednesday to speak to teenagers who are about to get their driver's licenses, telling them about the dangers of driving.

As a PowerPoint photo presentation flipped past in another courtroom Wednesday, she narrated: "This is where Chad used to live," she said of a photo of their home. "This is where we used to be a family."

The next shot was of his grave. "This is where I get to go every day to see him now."