Debbie Hardy said she is “serving a life sentence.” But it is for a crime someone else committed against her 13-year-old daughter, Janet, who was killed by a drunken driver in Harford County in 2003.
“No one plans to be a victim. We can only hope for support,” she said to about 100 crime victims and state and community victims? advocates Tuesday in Sykesville.
The Seventh Annual Victims’ Rights Open House and Awards event coincided with National Victims’ Rights Week, and was sponsored by Maryland?s Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services.
“It?s because of people like this that I have found what I call a new normal,” said Oliver Smith Sr., whose son Oliver Smith Jr. was shot and killed execution-style after being followed home from an ATM machine.
“Going through a murder trial is traumatic,” said Smith Sr., who said state victims? advocates helped him with his victim impact statement, which detailed how the crime had affected him and his family. He read the statement during the sentencing phase of his son?s murder trial.
“We try to remind everybody that victims should remain the centerpiece of the criminal justice system, not the forgotten piece,” said Mark Vernarelli, DPSCS spokesman.
Awards were given to state employees who have made a crucial difference for victims and their families, including the entire staff of the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, which provides financial assistance to innocent victims of crime.
Hardy regularly speaks to people on probation for drunken driving crimes to provide a voice and face for offenders to remember so no more mothers have to endure her pain.
Other recipients
» Wayne Hill, assistant warden of the Maryland House of Correction Annex, for the VOICE program, which allows victims to come inside prisons and tell their stories to inmates
» Jay Miller, for making the Victim Information Database a user-friendly online resource
» Joycelyn Evans, for coordinating victim services for the Division of Parole and Probation
