Ryan Carter
Moving on hasn't been easy for a family haunted by a New Year's
Day tragedy.
On Jan. 1, Troy Lee Shaw, 33, was driving without a license and
under the influence of methamphetamines when he slammed into another
car in a Sun Valley intersection, according to police. A passenger in
the other car, Burbank resident Melissa Perez, 21, was killed. Her
son Alec, not quite 2, died of brain injuries three days later.
Shaw was convicted June 26 and sentenced to eight years in state
prison on two counts of vehicular manslaughter while driving under
the influence of drugs.
Perez's mother, Martha Cohen, was driving the family car and
singing "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" just moments before the
accident. For her, the seven months since her daughter's death have
been a time of bitterness and flashbacks as she and her family try to
pick up the pieces.
"I can't even go grocery shopping, because I always had my
grandson with me," Cohen said, adding that she thinks no jail
sentence is adequate for what Shaw did.
The apologetic letter Shaw sent her certainly didn't help much. A
judge has since issued a restraining order blocking Shaw from sending
letters to the family.
Cohen, like others in the family, bounces between her work as a
kindergarten teacher and therapy sessions. Melissa's 17-year-old
sister was extremely depressed and overdosed on drugs, but survived.
Even Melissa's mother and stepfather could not carry on. After 10
years together, Marc and Martha Cohen separated. Marc Cohen said the
daily reminders of toys and other items like the VCR, which Alec
would try to turn on by himself, were unbearable. And only in the
past two weeks has Edwin Gonzalez, Alec's father, been able to go
back to work. Melissa's grandmother cries every day.
"I've been doing this for 20 years, and I think this was one of
the most emotionally wrenching cases I've dealt with in terms of the
impact on the family," said Deputy Dist. Atty. David Campbell, who
handled the case.
Marc Cohen admits the family was a work in progress before the
accident, but was bettering itself.
"Melissa had some real difficult years, but she was turning
around," Cohen said, adding she was interested in becoming a Burbank
Police officer.
Teaming with Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the family has focused
attention on Proposition 36, the drug rehabilitation law passed in
2000 that allows nonviolent drug offenders to be diverted to rehab
programs rather than spend time in jail. Shaw was in the program and
did not show up at a court hearing just days before the crash.
"I'm all for treatment, if it works," Marc Cohen said. "But if the
guy fails in the program, or doesn't finish it, the judge should be
able to send him to jail."
