Adria Kuharski's voice trembled as she fought back tears Monday afternoon in a somber courtroom, speaking directly for the first time to the man who drove his large pickup into her 13-year-old daughter and four other girls nearly a year ago in Ceres.
Her daughter, Danielle Tarancon-Leon, didn't survive. The pickup driver, Larry Dale Duke, was convicted and sentenced to 16 months in prison for hitting the girls.
"I can't even explain the way I felt," Kuharski said to Duke about the moment she learned of her daughter's death. "I hope that you've learned your lesson, because you get to go home and see your daughter. I don't."
In October, Duke, 46, of Ceres agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors. Duke pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter while being intoxicated and driving under the influence causing injury.
The vehicular manslaughter charge is considered a strike in the state's "three strikes" law, said Deputy District Attorney John Mayne. Duke must serve three years of parole once he is released, and his driver's license is revoked for three years.
Stanislaus County Superior Court Judge Ricardo Córdova ordered Duke to pay restitution for expenses incurred from Danielle's death and injuries the other girls suffered. Nancy Zavala and Jessica Suarez suffered severe injuries when Duke hit them.
Kuharski and several other family members spoke in court about how Danielle's death affected their lives. The court offers relatives and friends of victims a chance to address the court before sentencing is imposed.
The hearing went on for about an hour as they spoke about the teenage girl who had been taken away from them so early in her life. About 20 people, supporters of Danielle, sat in the courtroom audience and wept while hearing stories of intense grief.
"You know what you have done," Leticia Enriquez, Danielle's aunt, said to Duke. "You have taken a very special girl away from us."
Duke sat silently next to his defense attorney and looked at the family members as they spoke to him. Wearing an orange-and-white jail inmate jumpsuit and shackles on his wrists and ankles, Duke at times wiped tears from his eyes with the top of his sleeves.
He spoke briefly in court, standing up, turning around and looking at Danielle's family in the courtroom audience.
"I just want to say that I'm so sorry," Duke said while fighting back tears. "I never meant to hurt anybody."
Before the plea agreement, Duke initially was charged with vehicular manslaughter with gross negligence, reckless driving causing specified bodily injury and misdemeanor use of a controlled substance. A blood test later determined that Duke had methamphetamine and the sleeping aid Ambien in his system.
"You should've known that you should not have been driving," Enriquez told Duke.
The girls were struck about 9 a.m. Feb. 9 while crossing Darwin Avenue on the north side of Fowler Road near Mae Hensley Junior High School. The school day wasn't scheduled to begin until about 9:30 a.m. because of teacher training.
Witnesses said Duke was driving a raised pickup and failed to stop at the stop sign. Duke remained at the scene and cooperated with police.
Duke has been in custody at the Stanislaus County Jail since he was arrested a few weeks after the incident occurred.
Enriquez said the relatives were hoping for a longer prison sentence, but they have to accept the outcome. She told Duke that Danielle's death should haunt him and be part of his punishment.
"You'll have to live with her memory forever," Enriquez said.
Duke has been in and out of traffic court over the past few years, records show. Mayne said in court that Duke has more than 10 traffic violations.
He pleaded no contest to driving under the influence and with a revoked or suspended license after being stopped in June 2005.
He was convicted of driving without insurance and speeding in separate incidents in 2008. In 2009, he paid a fine for speeding. Last year, he was cited for a seat belt violation and speeding.
During a preliminary hearing in his latest case, a California Highway Patrol officer testified that Duke was found responsible for a five-car wreck that severely injured a young boy in September 2010.
Córdova said in court it was evident the pain and sorrow caused by Duke was "catastrophic" after listening to the family.
"I hope you think about this for the rest of your life," the judge told Duke.
Trinidad Tarancon, Danielle's grandmother, told Duke she will never get to see her granddaughter laugh or smile again. She will never get to see photos of Danielle at her high school prom, attend her granddaughter's wedding or see her grow up to become a mother.
"She was taken away at 13 years old," she said to Duke. "God tells me to forgive you, yet I don't know if I could ever forgive you."
Bee staff writer Rosalio Ahumada can be reached at rahumada@modbee.com or (209) 578-2394.
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