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“Thank you for this opportunity to address the family so that I can let them know how deeply sorry I am for the loss of Larry,” Baggs said during her sentencing in Clark County Common Pleas Judge Richard O’Neill’s courtroom. “Living with myself has been very difficult.”
She said the past couple years have been tough and she has sympathy for Mason’s loved ones.
“I often drive past the scene and look at the white cross and pray for those that are hurting,” she said. “Words cannot express how heavy my heart feels.”
“I take full responsibility for my actions,” Baggs said.
Baggs pleaded guilty to one count of felony failure to stop after an accident and misdemeanor vehicular manslaughter earlier this year.
Mason’s family gathered in the courtroom Tuesday and many wore T-shirts calling for justice for Larry.
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Christina Cole, Mason’s sister, said no punishment can revive her brother.
“When I came here today I just kind of determined that it didn’t matter anymore what she got because it doesn’t bring my brother back. It doesn’t’ change what we lost,” she said.
Mason was a happy person, she said.
“He wore a smile every single day,” Cole said. “I don’t care what the situation was. When he woke up and put his feet on the floor he was happy. He loved everybody, never met a stranger. He was the sunshine in our skies. He was a great person.”
She is choosing to believe Baggs was sincere with her apology in court because it is easier that way, she said.
“I can’t say I don’t question. I can say that I was impressed that she did say something. Maybe she does have some remorse. I wouldn’t want to be in her shoes.”
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Baggs faced three years in prison at the beginning of the hearing. Cole said she will accept the two-year punishment.
“What’s another year? It still doesn’t bring my brother back and it doesn’t’ change what we have been through and we have to live the rest of our lives without him,” she said.
Baggs was a family and consumer science teacher at Kenton Ridge High School in Springfield. She was placed on paid administrative suspension after she was charged in November, more than a year after the incident. She resigned days after entering the guilty pleas.
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