JUDGE SENDS A MESSAGE

On Tuesday, 3rd District Judge Royal Hansen imposed the maximum
sentence on Macall Aubrey Petersen in the overdose death of
18-year-old Amelia Sorich. Petersen, 19, earlier admitted injecting
Sorich with drugs, causing a deadly overdose and then hiding the body.

Petersen will spend a year in jail for class A misdemeanor negligent
homicide and zero-to-five years in prison for third-degree felony
desecration of a human body. She also was ordered to undergo drug
treatment and to have no contact with her mother, who was described
in court as a longtime drug addict who did drugs with her daughter.

Many in this community applaud the sentence handed down to Petersen.
Indeed, it speaks to the value of Sorich's life and removes from our
midst a young woman whose actions are a "significant danger to the
community," as Hansen said during the sentencing hearing.

For the Sorich family, the loss of their daughter and sister has been
overwhelming, according to their testimony. If only someone had
summoned help for their daughter and sister. If only Amelia's
"friends" valued her life more than they feared the consequences of
calling the authorities. Then, Amelia would have had a chance to
live. Then, her father's only option to see his daughter wouldn't be
visiting her graveside.

By all means, Petersen and her former boyfriend, Jasen Andrew
Calacino, 19, need to be held to account for their actions. But there
is another school of thought that says that rendering it safe to call
911 in the event of an overdose is a better course than punitive
criminal penalties.

This is the challenge Rep. Carol Spackman Moss faces as she attempts
to balance the interests of saving lives and upholding laws in
legislation she plans to introduce in the 2007 Legislature.

Had Petersen sought help for Sorich, it is possible that the course
of both of their lives would have been drastically different. Sorich,
described by her mother as a talented, good-humored and accomplished
young woman who went out of her way to care for others, may still be among us.

And Petersen would not be starting her young adult life behind bars.

If only.