By Marcia Moore
LEWISBURG -- Clutching a crying toddler, Jessica Lordeon appeared before Union County Judge Louise O. Knight Tuesday afternoon and described the hardships she has faced since her fiance was left in a vegetative state after being struck by a hit-and-run driver in January.
"This is Ethan," Lodeon said, introducing the toddler she and Todd Miller raised together before the Jan. 10 accident disabled the 37-year-old man.
The couple, who planned to marry in August, also have a 19-month-old daughter, Jasmine, together.
"He only got to spend 8 1/2 months with his daughter," Lordeon told the judge.
She's struggling to raise the children alone.
Lordeon said she fears she and the children will soon be homeless because she is on the verge of losing her job.
"Todd supported the family," she said, asking if the admitted hit-and-run driver, Tracy Webb, 37, of Lewisburg, could be forced to help her financially.
Restitution to help pay Miller's hefty medical bills was included in the plea agreement reached between District Attorney D. Peter Johnson and Webb's defense attorney, Hugh Benson Jr., but a specific amount has not yet been submitted to the court for action.
Under the plea deal, Webb pleaded guilty to a felony charge of accident involving personal injury and was sentenced Tuesday to serve at least nine months and up to 23 months in Union County Prison and pay a $1,000 fine.
The judge imposed the penalty after accepting the plea.
Lordeon and Miller's mother, Bonnie Swartz, of West Milton, said it was an improvement from the original three-month jail sentence that Webb was going to receive.
In October, after hearing the Miller family's objections to the lesser sentence, Knight rejected the plea deal.
Knight pointed out that the day of the accident on JPM Road in Kelly Township as Miller and Lordeon walked with the two children from the grocery store, Webb was driving without insurance.
"What struck me most is that you never should have been on the road. This wouldn't have happened if you'd been following the law," the judge said.
Benson described it as a "tragic accident" and said panic caused Webb to flee without stopping to help.
"I'm sorry it happened," Webb said.
Assistant District Attorney Jeffrey Crossland said that while there was no intent to cause harm, Webb did nothing to assist the injured Miller.
"He's a young man with a young child and will essentially be a vegetable for the rest of his life," Crossland said.
Miller's medical costs just after the accident were as much as $109,000 a day, he said, and continue to climb as he remains at Rolling Hills Manor Nursing Home in Millmont.
