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Date: Sunday, March 2, 2008
(Haverhill) "Please express my heartfelt thanks to all the hundreds of riders who wrote the Parole Board in support of my wish that my husband's killer not be released early, and that he honor his 2-year deal," Jackie Monahan of Haverhill asked of the Massachusetts Motorcyclists Survivor's Fund and Motorcycle Association members.
Larry Monahan of Haverhill was killed on March 18, 2006, just hours purchasing his 2004 Harley Davidson, outside his home, when Alexis Ortiz, 24, was driving well over 50 mph on the residential street and likely intoxicated (he refused testing at the scene). He faced a minimum 15 years at trial, and the Monahan family signed off on a plea bargain of 2 1/2 year prison term, with two years to be served, 10 years probation and 15 year loss of license.
Incarcerated less than a year, Ortiz applied for an early release parole hearing, that was scheduled for February 28, 2008. As only victims are allowed to appear at inmate Parole Hearings, Jackie contacted the MMSF and MMA leaders asking for support by writing letters to the Parole Board that Ortiz honor the deal he made before the trial.
The hearing was held Thursday in Natick, with Ortiz, Jackie and Larry's daughter testifying. Jackie contacted Paul W. Cote immediately after the hearing telling of the testimony and Ortiz's demeanor.
"At one time he either disengaged or fell asleep during the hearing. He did not accept responsibility of Larry's death. For the first time in 2 years, he admitted he had been drinking the night before, and the day he killed Larry."
"The parole board told me they were stunned and overwhelmed at the number of letters they received," Ms. Monahan told the MMSF/MMA contact, "and I am so grateful and thankful to the riding community who is now my family and whom I love."
Jackie will be working the MMSF Event next Sunday at Salisbury Beach to help another rider in need. "She helps us out at all our Events," MMSF President Paul W. Cote of Amesbury said. "She's part of our family now."
It took the Parole Board less the three (3) hours to make their decision: Parole, early release DENIED.
When Jackie got home, emotionally spent, she received news from a civil hearing held the past week in Essex County Superior Court, on an Assessment of Damages motion, that Judge Ball had awarded her $8.5 million in civil damages against Ortiz and the owner of the car, that killed Larry. (Registered in New Hampshire, no liability coverage).
Although she is unlikely to ever see a penny of it, Jackie told the MMSF/MMA "The Court put a value on Larry's life. I'm happy with that. He was worth millions more to me and I just wish he was here."
Jackie will be one of the many victims testifying at the March 18 State House hearings before the Judiciary Committee, on HB 1464, which seeks to increase the civil and criminal penalties of motorists who violation the right of way of any lawful road user (pedestrians, bicyclists, motorcyclists and other motorists), which results in serious bodily injury or death.
"It maybe ironic or fate that this hearing is scheduled on the 2nd anniversary of Larry's death. I can't see home and wallow, I need to be at the State House to make a difference," Ms. Monahan said.
For more information on HB 1464 and the upcoming hearing, see www.MassMotorcycle.org.
For more information on the Survivor's Fund, see www.MassMSF.org
See below, front page-top fold story Sunday's Lawrence Eagle Tribune.
Published: March 02,
2008 01:31 am
Haverhill: Wife wins $8.5 million in husband's motorcycle death, fights to keep other driver in prison
By
Mike LaBella
Staff Writer
A Haverhill woman has been awarded $8.5 million in a civil suit against a speeding driver who struck and killed her husband outside their home.
But Jackie Monahan may never see a dime of it. Alexis Ortiz, who was 22 at the time of the March 18, 2006, incident, had no insurance when he struck and killed Larry Monahan as he rode his new motorcycle in front of his home.
Jackie Monahan is taking some satisfaction in knowing that Ortiz will remain behind bars. At a Massachusetts Parole Board hearing in Natick on Thursday, Monahan, with family by her side and armed with hundreds of letters of support, staved off Ortiz's attempt to gain an early release.
"During the hearing he finally admitted he'd been drinking the day he killed Larry," said Monahan, formerly of Salem, N.H. "I think Ortiz was looking for sympathy."
Larry Monahan, whom friends and relatives described as a talented mechanic with a good heart who did countless good deeds for friends and strangers, had bought the teal-colored 2004 Harley Davidson Road Glide just hours earlier that morning in Hampton, N.H.
He was riding off from home on what should have been a 10-minute errand. It was about 4:15 p.m.
Traveling at an estimated 81 mph, Ortiz's careening Saturn sedan skidded into the 54-year-old Monahan. Police said he was crushed between his new motorcycle and the spinning car, then thrown to the pavement.
Ortiz, of 27 Victor St., Apt. 21, Haverhill, pleaded guilty to charges of manslaughter and vehicular homicide and in March 2007 was sentenced to 21/2 years in prison. He was to serve two years and was also sentenced to 10 years of probation and ordered not to drive for 15 years. Letters in support of keeping Ortiz locked up were sent to the Parole Board by members of the Massachusetts Motorcycle Association and members of the Massachusetts Motorcycle Survivors Fund.
Paul Cote, president of the survivors fund, and director of government relations for the motorcycle association, said his members were encouraged to send letters opposing Ortiz's early release.
"Jackie asked us for our support," Cote said. "From where we stand, Ortiz made a plea bargain and accepted his two years. It was offensive to a lot of people that he tried to go back on that deal."
In Essex Superior Court last week, Monahan was awarded $7.5 million in her civil suit against Alexis Ortiz and his father, Juan Ortiz, and $1 million in punitive damages in her suit against Alexis Ortiz. She said Alexis Ortiz was driving his father's uninsured vehicle at the time he killed her husband.
"This is an obligation on their part, but I really don't expect to see the $8.5 million," Monahan said. "I don't expect to live off the Ortiz family, but I'd like something for our family and our lives."
When Larry and Jackie Monahan were married in 1999, it was the second marriage for each of them. And it was nothing short of blissful, Jackie Monahan said. It was a combined family as well — he had one child, now 29, and she had two, now 27 and 31. The couple lived in Salem for seven years, moving to Haverhill a year before the accident.
"Larry and I had a good life together," she said.
She said it was a life filled with simple pleasures such as sitting on the couch together on a Sunday morning to watch drag racing on television followed by a cookout in the backyard. There were frequent trips to local flea markets, and walks on the beach.
"Friday night was pizza night," Monahan said. "Larry was a gift and I never had more in my life than when Larry was part of it. Alexis Ortiz stole something precious."
Larry Monahan worked as a mechanic at Manchester (N.H.) Subaru. Jackie Monahan works as a legal assistant. She said there is never enough money to do all the things that need to be done, such as fixing a leaky roof.
"Without Larry I don't even qualify for my current mortgage," she said. "Money is very tight even though I have a good job. This life was supposed to be meant for two people."
Dear Paul and the MMSF Board Members:
I'm writing to ask your help with Ortiz's parole hearing. I got notice a few weeks ago (and am just awaiting final confirmation on the date) that he has applied for and will be granted a parole hearing on Thursday, February 28. Only the victim or family members are allowed to attend the hearing and to speak.
I'm writing to ask you a very large kindness. I would like you to share my letter below with your MMSF mailing list and to post it on the website. While others can't attend the hearing, letters can be sent to the Parole Board asking to have him finish his two year sentence, with whatever reason folks might feel he should expressed in their letter. I know this is a lot to ask, and I thank you for even considering it.
Here's the letter I'd like you to share:
Dear Friends:
Many of you know that my husband, Larry Monahan, was killed on his bike on March 18, 2006. And so many of you have offered me and my family a kindness and support that I could never have imagined from people I had never met before. The young man who took Larry's life, Alexis Ortiz, was charged with manslaughter and in March of 2007 he offered a plea of guilty in exchange for a sentence of two years in prison (he is currently at the Middleton Correctional Institute), with six months more suspended sentence and fifteen years with no drivers license.
Alexis has applied for and been granted a parole hearing on February 28, 2008. If he is granted parole at that time, he will have served just under one year for taking Larry's life in a manner that was both reckless and thoughtless of anyone but himself. He claims that he was not under the influence of either alcohol or any other substance on that terrible Saturday afternoon. I say that if he behaved in this manner of his own free will and without the influence of any substance, then his behavior borders on horrific and that what he did is all the more heinous and unforgivable. Ortiz left a hole in our family that can never be filled or repaired and leaves us with a place in our hearts that can never truly be healed. Even those events that bring us great joy (our granddaughter, Alison, born in May last year, and the new grandchild expected in May of this year) are tempered by the sadness that one granddaughter has lost the Pepe she loved, and the two younger ones will never have the pleasure of knowing him at all.
Larry's daughter, Nicole, and I will both attend the hearing on February 28 to attempt to make our case for Alexis Ortiz to continue his prison sentence until he has fulfilled his obligation.
I write this letter to ask each of you, if you agree that he should spend another year in prison, to write to the Parole Board at the address listed below and support my plea to them that Alexis Ortiz not be released at this time. While there are many things the Board will take into consideration, letters rejecting his application and stating any reason that people feel he could be a danger to the community must also be taken into consideration. My hope is that they will be overwhelmed by the letters asking to keep Ortiz in prison for the next year.
I know that at this point Ortiz has done far more time than I even expected him to be sentenced to, and I thought that when the time came life would just go on, but it doesn't, not really. Larry was a good man, he worked hard every day to take care of us, and he was so full of kindness to other people. I miss him perhaps more these past few months than during the first year of losing him. Alexis Ortiz made a plea bargain with the court, he accepted a two year sentence on a charge of manslaughter instead of taking the chance on the full fifteen years the D.A. wanted to ask for in front of a jury. He traded two years of his life, willingly, for taking Larry from me and from his family.
Please help me fight a system that would release Ortiz with no hope of ever having a sense that justice might have been served.
The address is: The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Executive Office of Public Safety/Parole Board
Attn: Dena Coffey
12 Mercer Road,
Natick, MA 01760
Thank you all for your time.
Sincerely,
Jackie Monahan
NOTE FROM THE MMSF:
Each letter should have your name and return address upon it. The opening should read:
RE: Parole Hearing, Early Release Application
RE: Alexis Ortiz
Request Application be denied
You can find a sample letter / template letter here. Please feel free to use it as a guide. This should not be a 'form letter' but your own personalized letter. Please consider e-mailing a copy of your letter to Jackie Monahan at mumsybella@comcast.net and the MMSF at contact@massmsf.org).