News

Actions

Judge becomes emotional while sentencing a driver in a fatal crash

Posted at 5:57 PM, Sep 11, 2018
and last updated 2018-09-12 09:32:29-04

A judge was brought to tears on Tuesday while sentencing a De Pere man to 10 years in prison for killing two women while driving drunk.

One hundred people in the courtroom, including Judge William Atkinson, were emotional when David Meyer was sentenced to serve the next ten years behind bars for killing a mother and her daughter.

In August of 2017, Rebecca Pennenberg and her daughter Raelia went for a walk in their neighborhood in the town of Lawrence. Both were struck by Meyers car and pronounced dead at the scene.

According to the Brown County Sheriff's Office, Meyer’s blood alcohol level was nearly three times the legal limit. Meyer pleaded no contest to two felony charges. Judge Atkinson said no one should ever suffer the pain of the Pennenberg family.

"When I read the letters of the Pennenberg family and the Kuzo family, I understood their pain. I'll never understand it fully, but I recognize the pain, and I can only imagine…if my wife and my daughter did not come home one night," Judge Atkinson stated while becoming emotional.

The judge also sentenced Meyers to ten years of extended supervision after he's released from prison. During that time, he is not allowed to purchase or drink alcohol.