It's a classic legal drama trope: Someone sets aside their notes in court and speaks from the heart. Few expect it to happen in real life, especially not in the unglamorous courtrooms of San Francisco's decaying Hall of Justice. But on Aug. 27, it did. Nicky Garcia, the driver responsible for a deadly hit-and-run nine years ago, dropped the statement he'd prepared to read, stood, and turned to face the loved ones of the woman he'd killed.
Pastor Ian Wilkinson, delivering the first of a number of victim impact statements in the Victoria State Supreme Court sentencing trial of 50-year-old Erin Patterson, said Monday of the 2023 loss of his wife through poisoning, "I only feel half alive without her." Speaking of his wife Heather's absence, Wilkinson said, "The silence in our home is a daily reminder. I continue to carry a heavy burden of grief over her untimely death."
