Oct. 2, 2023 8:45p
(WGTD)---All lives are precious, and the passing of any person is to be mourned. But the death of hard-working and compassionate Gateway Technical College nursing program graduate Johanna Pascoe last year at the hands of a drunk driver raised those beliefs to a new degree, said Racine Judge Timothy Boyle at the sentencing hearing Monday for the defendant.
22-year-old Ernesto Regalado Rodriguez received a 15-year-term behind bars, the maximum for a conviction of homicide by intoxicated use of a motor vehicle. Regalado-Rodriguez had a blood-alcohol level of more than twice the legal driving limit when his car crossed the center line on Douglas Ave. in Caledonia at 6:45 a.m. Dec. 12th and struck Pascoe's car on the driver's side. The 20-year-old Pascoe was taken to the hospital in grave condition and died the next day after life support was removed. Pascoe's body was so badly damaged that none of her organs could be transplanted, said Johanna's father, Paul Pascoe.
He argued that the driver should've gotten life in prison. "We will serve a life sentence of pain and sadness," said Pascoe, whose comments led off lengthy remarks by several family members at Monday's proceeding. Speaking for over an hour, they detailed Joanna's final hours in the hospital, and their insurmountable grief and despair. They described Johanna as a shining star. "She was always able to see a bright side and lift everyone up," said her mother, Sue Pascoe.
Johanna Pascoe had participated in Gateway's pinning ceremony for new nurses just four days earlier, and was looking forward to beginning a full-time job in the ICU at St. Luke's Hospital in Milwaukee.
Despite putting herself through Gateway's accelerated nursing program, Pascoe found time to volunteer at a local animal shelter and go on outings with her nephews. A sister said one of her hardest days since Joanna's passing was presenting the Christmas presents Joanna had ordered before the accident to her--the sister's-- small children.
Several friends and family members of the defendant spoke on his behalf, describing him as hard-working, trustworthy and religious.
Speaking through an interpreter, Regalado Rodriguez said he's wished "a thousand times" that he would've been the one who died in the crash, repeatedly stating that he accepts full responsibility.
Regalado Rodriguez came to this country from Mexico three years ago to escape poverty and had been working full-time and attending classes at Gateway, according to his attorney.
Boyle, in passing the sentence, said he didn't think the defendant was a bad person, just that he made "bad and horrific" choices that day. "I don't think things can get more tragiic than this," Boyle said, commenting on the case in totality.
The defendant's 15-year-long prison stay is to be followed by 10 years' of extended supervision, but Boyle did not address the impact on the sentence of Regalado Rodriguez' status as an illegal immigrant.
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