SENTENCE UPSETS PARENTS

Driver Had Drug In Blood At Time Of Fatal Wreck

After 18-year-old Kilian L. Palmer gets out of jail in five months, he
must tell other teen-agers in Richmond County high schools how
marijuana can mess up their lives. While he's talking with teens, he
will wear an armband with a picture of the 8-year-old girl who died
when she darted in front of his car on old U.S. Highway 1 last spring.

The talks and the four years' probation on unrelated traffic charges,
however, aren't enough to satisfy the parents of Laura Jean Chrisco.
Their persistence led to Mr. Palmer's arrest.

Richmond County State Court Judge David Watkins knew he could not give
Sherry and Henry Chrisco the solace they sought when he revoked Mr.
Palmer's probation and sentenced him to five months and 12 days in
prison last week.

"There's nothing anyone can do to address the grief," the judge
said.

Mr. Palmer was on probation for marijuana possession and had the drug
in his system when his car struck Laura Jean on May 19, but he was not
charged because the level in his blood was low. No one noticed he was
on probation at the time.

Eight days earlier, he had collided with an ambulance, which struck
another vehicle, after he had ignored a deputy who was directing
traffic at a wreck on Old Waynesboro Road. He was charged with
improper passing and failure to yield to an emergency vehicle but was
not given a drug or alcohol test.

During the next three months, he received three more traffic tickets
and failed to show up for court on any of them.

Meanwhile, the Chriscos' attorney notified State Court Solicitor
Sheryl Jolly of the toxicology report on Mr. Palmer indicating
marijuana use. Mrs. Jolly notified the probation office, and a warrant
was issued for his arrest Aug. 15.

He was not arrested, however, despite four warrants against him, until
Mr. Chrisco called the sheriff's office and insisted that he be picked
up. Mr. Palmer was arrested the next day, Oct. 24.

The Chriscos took a framed photograph of their daughter to court Nov.
7. "This is our angel, Laura Jean," Mrs. Chrisco said. "She had just
turned 8 years old March 17. The impact knocked her 74 feet. Later
that night, I suffered a heart attack."

Mr. Palmer's attorney, Jimmy Walker, objected to the parents'
testimony, noting that Mr. Palmer was not on trial for Laura Jean's
death. The trial addressed Mr. Palmer's traffic violations.

But Judge Watkins said the fact was that Mr. Palmer had been "smoking
dope," an aggravating circumstance in violation of his probation, when
he hit Laura Jean.

The Chriscos had just returned from a day at Thurmond Lake when Laura
Jean got out of the car and went to join her mother, who was walking
the dog across the road.

Mr. Chrisco was unhooking the boat when he heard his wife scream and
ran to see his daughter lying in the road.

"I walked over and picked her up," he said. "Blood was coming out of
her ears. She felt all busted up. ... To this day, I can go out in my
yard and see the accident."

The couple has since put their house up for sale.

Mrs. Jolly tried to have state law changed to allow prosecution of
people involved in wrecks with any level of illegal drugs in their
systems, but the bill died in a Senate committee this year. She plans
to try again next year, she said.