BOULDER — The woman who struck and killed well-loved Louisville wanderer and free spirit John Breaux with her car in January was sentenced Friday afternoon to 16 years of probation, six of them supervised.
Mary Jo Thomas was also given 200 hours of community service, ordered to pay nearly $13,000 in restitution and told not to drive a car again.
Thomas, 63, had pleaded guilty to a felony count of criminally negligent hom icide in a plea deal she reached with prosecutors in May. She could have been sentenced to up to three years in prison.
Thomas spoke for less than a minute at the sentencing hearing.
She apologized to Breaux’s family.
“I wish this had never happened,” she said. “I wish it had been me instead of John.”
Breaux’s sister-in-law, Lori Bright, said her husband and their children were devastated by his death. But she said 57-year-old Breaux would have tried to comfort Thomas.
“We know that John would have forgiven her,” she said in court.
Outside the courtroom, David Bright — Breaux’s brother — embraced a sobbing Thomas. He said he didn’t think Thomas should spend time behind bars for her mistake.
Boulder District Judge James Klein agreed.
“Everyone in this room can agree that this was a horribly tragic event,” the judge said. “I don’t think it was anyone’s fault. It was a tragedy in every respect.”
Thomas veered off the side of U.S. 287 just north of South Boulder Road in Lafayette on Jan. 30, smashing her PT Cruiser into Breaux as he picked up trash along the roadside.
Although police found multiple prescription-medication bottles in Thomas’ glove box at the time she ran into Breaux, toxicology tests determined she was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
