The Sentencing (3/16/26)

This is the mugshot from when our fine,
upstanding citizen was picked up for burglary,
which then revealed his warrant for the accident.

If you've been following along from the beginning (there's a summary in the Plea Deal post), you know what an absolute cluster of fucks working with the State of Utah has been, so I don't know why I was surprised to find out that the dumbfuckery continued the morning of sentencing.

On January 5th, at the pre-trial hearing, when Mr. Graska (aka Sincere Deviolencia. Yes, I'm deadnaming him, and that's intentional) was offered and accepted the plea deal, we were told that the sentencing would occur in Moab, UT, because the courthouse in Monticello was under construction. No problem, we could find a place in Moab to stay. It was re-iterated a couple of times that the sentencing would be in Moab.

Come February, I decide to reach out to our victim's advocate to see if they had any agreements with hotels in Moab, noting that we didn't want to risk running into him. She let me know that they did not, and that our best bet would be to find an AirBnB if we wanted to be certain we wouldn't run into Mr. Graska. So that's what we did. I found one, sent it to Mom, and she booked it. It was perfect for housing the six of us for one night, and it was only about ten minutes from the courthouse.

Morning of the sentencing, we pack up and head out. We get to the courthouse and can't find the courtroom. We follow the signs upstairs to the District Courts, only to be told that the courtroom was downstairs. No problem. The six of us trudge back down the stairs, but don't see a courtroom. We go into a reception area to ask for directions to the judge's courtroom, only to be told that he's in Monticello.

Um, no.

We were clearly told, repeatedly, that the courthouse in Monticello was under constructions and that court would be held in Moab. I had confirmed with the victim's advocate when I was looking for lodging that the sentencing was going to be held in Moab.

At this point, it was seven minutes before court time, and Monticello is an hour south of Moab. There was no way we were going to be able to make it. The lovely ladies at the Moab courthouse were kind enough to offer a couple of solutions: 1) make room for us to log in and attend it remotely, or 2) call the judge and ask him to delay until we got there.

The clerks actually chose option two for us. They took my number, and said they'd call once they got ahold of the judge. We hustled back to the cars and headed south to Monticello. Just a couple of minutes after we got on the highway, the clerk called and let me know that the judge had a very full docket that day and that it wasn't a problem for him to push back the sentencing until we arrived.

I suppose this is the time to say that every person we've encountered throughout this journey has been amazing: kind, thoughtful, and helpful. Some of them (cough-cough-victim's advocate) just aren't very good at their jobs.

It was jolting to file into the courtroom and see Mr. Graska, just right there. Right in front of us. I don't know where else I expected him to be, but sitting in the pew a few rows ahead of us was not it. The judge allowed a few victim impact statements to be read, and allowed statements from each attorney. The defense attorney was clearly trying to argue for time served and wanted jail, rather than prison for his client. Also, the defense attorney said that it was only fair for us to hear what kind of person his client was and read a rambling statement about his client's life, pausing to choke up and cry at what he thought were key points, but mostly were just awkward. Mr. Graska was allowed to make a statement, which he did, but it was also just narcissistic drivel, and he wouldn't even turn to address us (the family). He managed to dredge up some tears, too, but I'm fairly certain that was just because he was feeling remorse about going to prison, not about what he did to our family. He'd shown zero remorse at all throughout this long process.

The judge didn't buy any of the theatrics and gave him the full sentence, after a brief lecture about how this wasn't an accident, but an inevitability for someone driving under the influence and distracted. Have I mentioned, I really like our judge?

Sadly, the full sentence is 5 years in Utah State Prison, 6 months in county jail to run concurrently. He'll be out in two. 

Did I also mention that sentencing happened to fall on Mom's 77th birthday? I guess, happy birthday Mom, your gift is that most of the court crap is over.

I want to share an impactful statement from Mrs. Deejo that resonated with everyone who heard it:

Bill was a force of nature: warm, steady, and deeply good.  His loss left a hole in our family that cannot be filled.  Life moves forward because it must, but it will never again be whole. 

Plea Deal

 

Beel and Ranger Danger

I've been dragging my feet on posting about the plea deal that Daniel Graska (a/k/a Sincere DeValencia) was offered and accepted. The virtual pre-trial hearing, when he was offered the deal, was on January 5th at 10:00 a.m. (1,141 days (3.13 years) since the accident).

We'd been joining in on all of the court proceedings via Webex since the whole thing started. The link to join had never changed, so at our prescribed time, we attempted to log in. Mom, from the Lodge; me from work. The Webex link that we've been using since the very first court date didn't work. We were texting back and forth frantically, and I finally went to the Utah state courts website and searched for the case that way. I was able to get in about four minutes late, but my audio wouldn't work. My coworker tried helping me to get my speaker to start working, but nothing happened. I could see that, for once, our case was first up and already underway, but I couldn't hear what was going on. I tried the "call me in" option for audio, only for my spam filter to block it without any way for me to recover the number. I watched, horrified, as that awful man answered the judge. I'm a terrible lip reader, so I started clicking around, looking for the closed captioning, and finally found the automated transcript.

Everything happened so quickly, that by the time I found the transcript and started taking screen shots so that Mom could see what was going on, it was over without representation from our family. 

Apparently, the courts used a different log-in for this court date, and no one had bothered to let us know. I was beyond livid. This was just one more way the Utah court system had failed us, and I wasn't shy about letting our victim's advocate know how I felt about it.

For a refresher on the original charges, go here.

They dropped the charge for almost killing Mom completely, and offered him this:

• Automobile Homicide. 3rd degree Felony; 0-5 years Utah State Penitentiary; $5,000 fine, plus 90% surcharge.
• Metabolite DUI. Class B Misdemeanor; 6 months jail; $100 fine, plus 90% surcharge.

That's it. 

Bill's death is worth $5,100 in fines according to Utah state law. Mom's injuries were insignificant enough in the eyes of the law for that charge to be dropped. As I said in my last post, we have a legal system, not a justice system.

I will say that the judge has been consistently good, and has taken no shit from Mr. Graska or his attorney. We do have the opportunity to influence the judge to give Mr. Graska the maximum sentence via our victim impact statements.

My anger with the court system is not because of the prosecutor or the judge, who are working as well as they can being handcuffed by the laws. My anger is due to the fact that it took so long for the investigation to be finished (590 days (1.62 years)), and the charges to be filed (725 days (1.99 years)). Add in the fact that we were never given the link to the pre-trail hearing, and I'm less than pleased with the Utah Court system. By the time he's sentenced on March 16th, it will have taken 1,211 days (3.32 years) to close this case.

The sentencing will be in person, and we will be present. Then, it'll be as over as it can be, and we can continue to go about rebuilding our lives without Beel.

The Accident and On-Going Legal BS

(Cross posted from Mom and Bill's blog)

If you'd like to get caught up on what was posted previously, the posts are here and here. As you'll read in the second post, I had intended to continue posting about the accident, but grief is dumb and I ran out of spoons to keep posting.

The accident was November 21, 2022 and we're just now getting around to seeing some action on the case. It took almost two years of hounding the Utah Highway Patrol and reaching out to the County Attorney to get some traction. Finally, on November 15th, 2024 (I wasn't kidding about it taking almost two years!), the County Attorney notified us that charges were being filed against the driver who hit Mom and Bill.

The initial charges were: automobile homicide, 2nd degree felony for Bill's death, and negligently operating a vehicle resulting in injury, 3rd degree felony for Mom's injuries. At some point, I'm unsure when, the charges were amended to:

• Negligently operating a vehicle resulting in death, 2nd degree felony (Bill)
• Negligently operating a vehicle resulting in serious bodily injury, 3rd degree felony (Mom)
• Driving under the influence - 1st offense in 10 years

The warrant was issued, which was a weight off our shoulders. It had been 725 days since the accident, and I'd basically given up. I figured the other driver got away with killing Bill and almost killing Mom and there was nothing to be done about it. I knew that the accident report was complete, which took until July 2, 2024 to finalize. But, knowing that the accident report was complete, I didn't see any reason why charges hadn't been filed. The evidence is pretty clear, in my eyes, that the other driver is at fault.

Honestly, it was rage at the injustice that forced me to "get mean" when I reached out the the County Attorneys in October, 2024. I wasn't sure which county would be handling the case, so I reached out to two adjoining counties and hounded them until I heard back. My relieve was short-lived at hearing that the other driver had been charged, and a warrant issued, because the other driver lives in Washington State. I knew they weren't going to go extradite him, that we'd have to wait until he was stopped for another traffic infringement. Then, his warrant would show in the system and he'd be arrested and sent back to Utah.

I (we, but I don't want to put words in anyone else's mouth) settled in for another long wait. I really thought it would be a traffic violation that would bring him in. Imagine my surprise when I got an email from the County Attorney on a Sunday night (March 2, 2025) that the other driver was in custody. But not for a traffic violation, because he'd been caught breaking and entering. For some reason, it never crossed my mind that he was a career criminal. It didn't matter how he was brought into custody, just that he was.

Since his first court appearance in March of this year, it has been nothing but hurry up and wait. We've had several virtual court dates. Most have resulted in an extension while he was searching for an attorney to represent him - he makes too much money for a public defender. He finally found an attorney, and we played hurry up and wait again while his attorney got caught up on the case. We were supposed to finally have an arraignment a week or so ago, but he got yet another extension while his attorney gathered the "factual evidence" of the case. I don't know, I think the objective toxicology report, the information pulled from each of the cars computers, and the reconstruction of the accident are pretty factual, but I know it's his attorney's job to question everything.

The one thing the other driver's attorney and I agree on is that this should not have taken over two years to get to this point. This case should be over and done by now.

We had a meeting with the County Attorney, and we were told that while he'll take our feelings into consideration, we really have no say in whether or not he offers a plea deal (drop to 3rd degree felony for Bill's death, 0-5 years prison) or goes to trial. He wants to offer the plea, we want to go to trial (2nd degree felony for Bill's death is 15 years to life).  He agreed to consult with a toxicologist regarding the levels of meth in the other driver's system and how fast it metabolizes, then make the determination if he can prove the other driver was impaired. If he can solidly prove the other driver was impaired, then he's more willing to pursue a trial.

He'll let us know his decision before the next arraignment date in August. I'm not hopeful for a trial, I suspect we're going to have to make peace with a plea. But ... I might be able to swallow the injustice of the plea as long as the other two charges aren't altered.

Logically, I get it. He has a huge case load, and needs to close them. But my sense of right and wrong is outraged.

A friend of mine is fond of saying, "We don't have a justice system, we have a legal system." He's absolutely correct. There will be no justice, no matter how this turns out. So, we'll play within the legal system and pray that he faces some consequences.