Melanie's Story

A first-hand story from the grandfather of 13-year-old victim Melanie Powell
Memories of Melanie: A photo slideshow

STORIES

State ranked among the worst in nation
Quincy judge was among first to take a hard line

GRAPHICS

PART 1
TIMELINE: How Massachusetts drunken driving law has changed
Alcohol's causes and effects
How local and state courts treat repeat drunken drivers
Busiest courts in state for drunken driving arraignments

PART 2
The cost of drunken driving

PART 3
Massachusetts fails compared with other states
Death toll from drunken driving

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AMELIA KUNHARDT/The Patriot Ledger

Tod and Nancy Powell, whose daughter Melanie was killed by a drunken driver, urged passage of Melanie’s Bill, which would increase penalites for repeat drunken drivers.

A final push for drunken driving measure

Legislators begin their hearing into Melanie’s Bill

By TOM BENNER
Patriot Ledger State House Bureau

QUINCY - In a preview of today’s legislative hearing on Melanie’s Bill, local politicians joined the families of drunken driving victims to call for tougher penalties for repeat offenders.

AMELIA KUNHARDT/The Patriot Ledger

Christine Leone of Quincy and her son Nicholas, 9, listen to speakers. attend yesterday’s rally to urge passage of Melanie’s Bill. Nicholas was hit by an alleged drunken driver on Palmer Street in August 2004.

“We want to put faces with the names that you read in the paper. We want to give to the victims and the victims’ families a voice,” said Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey, who attended four rallies yesterday with the family of Melanie Powell, a 13-year-old Marshfield girl killed by a repeat drunken driver in July 2003. “For too long our laws here in Massachusetts have favored the drunk driver over the victim.”

Healey called the state’s drunken driving laws among the weakest in the nation, and noted that 207 people were killed by drunken drivers in Massachusetts in 2003.

“That doesn’t begin to touch the broad number of people who are injured by drunk drivers, whose names we never really know,” Healey said. “All of their families, all of their employers, all the families that were supported by those people, they are all deeply touched by this disgrace in our commonwealth.”

Melanie’s Bill, which would increase penalties for repeat drunken

drivers, is the subject of a hearing today before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on the Judiciary.

Among those speaking with Healey at a rally in front of Quincy District Court yesterday was Rick O’Bryan of Rockland, accompanied by his 20-year-old daughter Jill, who was in a wheelchair. Jill O’Bryan suffered devastating injuries in a June 8 accident involving a man with a drunken driving conviction and 10 license suspensions since the late 1980s on his record.

The accident left Jill O’Bryan in a wheelchair, and forced her to delay her studies in radiation biology at Suffolk University.

“She’s got to learn how to walk for the next year,” O’Bryan said. “She’s lucky she’s here.”

Other family members of drunken driving victims to speak were Ron Bersani of Marshfield, Melanie Powell’s grandfather, and Ed Melia of Quincy, whose 9-month-pregnant granddaughter lost her baby after her car was struck by a repeat drunken driver.

Melanie’s Bill would require all repeat offenders to have an ignition-interlocking device installed on their vehicle as a condition of having a license; allow judges to impound vehicles of repeat offenders; increase minimum penalties; and increase the license suspension for anyone refusing a Breathalyzer test from 180 days to one year for the first offense and up to a lifetime suspension for future offenses.

Tom Benner may be reached at tbenner@ledger.com.