FERNDALE, Wash. — Their children are dead, and so -- they believe -- is their hope for justice.
Families of two teens hit and killed by a driver in Ferndale last June heard him found not guilty of vehicular homicide and assault Wednesday in a Whatcom County courtroom.
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When the judge read the jury’s verdict, William Klein was overwhelmed with emotion. His family and friends burst into tears, as the people who loved the teens he killed cried too, but for a different reason.
While the judge polled each juror individually, they left the courtroom. Klein’s attorney says none of them should have been in a courtroom anyway.
"There was absolutely no basis for this charge. Disregard for the safety of others requires you to do something," Mike Brodsky told us after the jury was dismissed.
Klein fell asleep behind the wheel and drove his SUV onto a Ferndale sidewalk last June, hitting and killing 18-year-old Shane Ormiston and 15-year-old Gabe Anderson.
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“He had a very bright future and no one should ever have to go through this,” Gabe’s aunt Jamie Torres told us a day after her nephew’s death.
Two other students were seriously injured. Troopers thought Klein was on drugs, and said they found him asleep in his car, his toddler son in the backseat.
Klein admitted he was a regular marijuana user, but a blood test revealed he wasn’t under the influence, and his attorney maintains he wasn’t asleep after the wreck— he was distraught.
"Accidents are sometimes just accidents," said Brodsky.
That was little consolation to the people who loved Gabe and Shane; they were too distraught to talk to us.
We asked Klein, but he would speak only to the people who came to support. If convicted, Klein’s attorney tells us he faced between 57 and 75 months in prison.
<strong><a href="http://www.kiro7.com/news/photos-suv-hits-4-high-school-students-outside-pe-/43588440" target="_blank">[See photos of the victims, incident scene and community following the crash.]</a></strong>
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