Dumont Posse

Today has been a long time coming. It was two days prior to Gregory Hebert having to go to trial. He was scheduled for a long drawn out trial Monday, July 13, 2009. The night in question was June 23, 2007, two years ago. It has been a long road of trial calendar calls that led no where and a lot of Greg not showing up or having to be at any of the court dates. Meanwhile, my mother has showed up to each and every one. He was indicted on two counts. The first was driving to endanger, death resulting and the second was leaving the scene of the accident, death resulting. He had originally pleaded not guilty and today he withdrew that plea. He entered a nolo contendere plea, which as the judge stated, "Is considered guilty in the state of RI." At this point he is looking at a maximum of 2 years jail time and a total of 10 years of probation. The sentencing is currently scheduled for September 10, 2009. At this point we will find out what the judge is sentencing him to as far as jail time. He did state today that while he is sure there will be jail time, he cannot say how much jail time just yet. We just know that the maximum will be two years. He gets to spend the next 8 weeks free while he awaits the judge's decision.

All of that being said, I can't say this makes anyone happy or leaves anyone disappointed. What I can say is that I am personally glad he will serve some time in prison. While two years seems inadequate to the crime, no amount of time he serves will make me feel more at peace over losing my sister. Also, I can honestly say I am a bit relieved that we didn't have to relive those awful last moments of Ashley's death through a drawn out trial. Two months from now this will all be behind us. While it will never be forgotten, it makes no difference to me, as it will never bring her back.