Apology Sought in Drunk Driving Deaths

A man who lost his family in the worst alcohol-related road accident in U.S. history said in court Wednesday that he wants an apology from the driver who is being tried on 27 counts of murder.

“I want to know if he’s hurting as bad as I am,” Lee Williams said of the defendant, Larry Mahoney. “I want him to tell me he’s sorry. This is the second Christmas I’ve spent without my daughters.”

Williams’ wife, Joy, and daughters Kristin and Robin died in the fiery collision between Mahoney’s pickup truck and a church bus in Carrollton on May 14, 1988. Williams has since married the bus driver’s widow.

Mahoney, 36, a chemical plant worker from Worthville, is charged with 27 counts of murder and 55 lesser offenses. He faces life imprisonment if convicted in the trial, which began Nov. 8 in Carroll County Circuit Court.

Williams was the last of 24 survivors of 26 of those killed to be called to the stand by Assistant Atty. Gen. Paul Richwalsky, special prosecutor in the case.

Williams, who had to pause several times during his testimony to regain his composure, said that a life sentence was the least punishment Mahoney should receive.

“What we want is for Mr. Mahoney to go to prison and stay there for the rest of his natural life,” said Williams, who has been the unofficial spokesman for several families who lost relatives in the collision.

Mary Taylor, the nurse in charge of the emergency room at a hospital in Louisville to which Mahoney was taken after the accident, testified Wednesday that he had been unconscious and was suffering from a collapsed lung when he arrived.

Analyses of whole blood and blood serum taken from Mahoney found alcohol levels of 0.18 and 0.24. Kentucky law defines intoxication as 0.10 or more.

Other witnesses had testified that the pickup Mahoney was driving hit the bus, which was loaded with 67 people, and then another car when traveling the wrong way on Interstate 71.