Loss of a Friend

For nine months I have been dealing emotionally and mentally with the death of my best friend. It requires time to heal even partly. After all, how often is it that an 18-year-old loses her best friend to sudden death?

Of course, death is a part of nature, but we assume that each of us will die of natural causes. Nothing is more tragic than someone’s life’s being destroyed by an unexpected event or a heedless individual.

Such was Jill Inouye’s death. In June, 1984, Jill was traveling with her parents and brother to dinner. A drunk driver swerved his van into the opposite side of Calabasas Road, crashing into the Inouyes’ automobile with immense force, instantly killing Jill.

I have spent much time with my and Jill’s friends and with the Inouye family as we have all attempted to cope with our misfortune. My life, as well as others’, is desperately lacking--lacking Jill’s presence--all because one heedless and grossly negligent individual chose to break the law and drive while illegally intoxicated.

Recently, moreover, Jill’s family and friends are faced with more trauma, more unfairness, more absurdity. On March 25, jurors found Evan D. Haller innocent of vehicular manslaughter and felony drunk driving, guilty only of misdemeanor drunk driving.

Why do the victims suffer most? Why are the victims the ones punished most? A man breaks a law, kills a 19-year-old woman, walks away physically uninjured and possibly will receive a maximum punishment of one year in a county jail--regardless of the fact that this young man has a record of drunk driving.

True, Evan Haller will have to live with himself knowing that he killed a person. But because he continually escapes punishment of which he is deserving, he will probably continue to cause destruction, perhaps even killing others. Where is the justice?

LISA J. HACKEN

Westlake Village