Transcript of my speech to the Judge

I have spent the last 6 months thinking about what Mark Nigon has done to my wife and I. I have spent this time thinking about how he was out on bail the morning after he almost killed me. How he never once tried to tell me that he was sorry for his actions. How he has made our lives a living hell ever since by making civil action difficult while my wife and I have been thrown into financial turmoil. Mr. Nigon has completely torn my life apart. While I have struggled to pick up the pieces and rebuild my life Mr. Nigon has been able to plead out of half of my case and all of my wife's case. Mr. Nigon has skillfully avoided a large majority of the consequences that should have been associated with the violent and highly negligent acts that he has inflicted on my wife and I. We feel that this is the last opportunity that we have to see justice served.
When preparing to come here I consulted several legal professionals and the D.A. assigned to the case. All seemed to think that this man, Mark Nigon, deserved the stiffest penalties available for his crime, but made it clear that he had some leverage that he could use to receive a reduced sentence. Mark Nigon is going to come to the stand today and tell you about what a good upstanding man he is. He is going to tell you how he is a good church going man. How he is a family man. How he needs to care for his three daughters and his wife. How he needs to keep the mortgage on his house. All of these things are considerations that Mr. Nigon should have taken before making the decision to drive drunk on the evening on July 1st and nearly ending my life.
Please, I beg you do not allow Mr. Nigon to receive anything less than two years in jail. Mr. Nigon has given injuries to my wife and I that will be with us for the rest of our lives, physical emotional and psychological. It is not to much to ask that he sits in a cell and thinks about it for two short years. It is of a huge concern to me that Mr. Nigon's family can even be taken into account during the sentencing process. It makes me wonder, if he had done the same thing and was a single man would his sentence be harsher? Mr. Nigon should not be allowed to use his family situation as a get out of jail free card. The consideration for sentencing should rest alone on his individual actions and the violent damage that he has wrecked on my wife and I.
On the Evening of July 1st I was out drinking at a local bar with a friend. I became very inebriated and decided that I should call my wife for a ride home. This type of behavior I had always assumed was common knowledge and common courtesy to your fellow citizens. This particular night I was proven wrong. Mark Nigon a 41 year old pipe fitter was out at a friend's house this holiday weekend celebrating our countries independence as I was. He unfortunately did not have the common sense or intelligence to call for a ride. Mark Nigon jumped into his Dodge RAM 2500 with a Blood alcohol level in excess of .20 and proceeded to drive down the wrong way on a one way street while evading the police. He hit my car head on.
As a result of Mr. Nigon's violent recklessness I suffered extremely severe injuries. My hip was broken in three places, my pelvic sockets each had fractures, my pubic bone was separated, I had compounded tibia and fibula fractures that required my right leg to be rebuilt with titanium rods. Nearly every bone in my right foot was broken and a piece of the car actually spiked through my right foot and speared it. My left foot and left leg suffered non-displaced bone fractures. My pelvis was tilted and although I under went nearly 8 hours of surgery total in order to correct all of my injuries, there are still maladies that I will have to live with for the rest of my life. My left leg is slightly turned outward due to the pelvic tilt. I have constant pain in my pubic region, left hip, right leg during weather and pressure changes. My right leg is a little longer than my left which will cause me to walk with a limp for the rest of my life. I get frequent severe headaches as a result of the closed head trauma that was incurred. The last time I was in this room, Mr. Nigon's Lawyer stood before this court and said that he believed that I suffered "a broken leg, and a slight hip fracture" and "that it was an unfortunate accident." Well as you can tell from what I just told you, my injuries were much more severe. So severe that they put me in the hospital for nearly a month and required physical therapy that has continued even to this day. To Mr. Nigon's lawyer, "Unfortunate accident", shame on you, it is clear that you have not given this case the appropriate amount of time to understand the facts of the case. This accident was clearly avoidable. Call a cab, a friend or your wife. Mr. Nigon is here to plead for his freedom. Mr. Nigon would like to get out of what he did to us with no punishment at all, but I submit to you if some other drunk had caused the same type of damage to Mr. Nigon's wife or children that he has caused to my wife and I then Mr. Nigon would be up here where I am begging that that man be put away.
In addition to the physical, emotional and psychological damage that this accident has caused, It has also left my wife and I in a state of financial distress. We had to use our entire savings in order to live. Then we dipped into our honeymoon fund that we had started to build up. We were married just three months before this incident, in this very building. Currently we are left in a state of financial bliss, due in part to the massive amount of financial burden, paired with my inability to work and my wife being forced to quit her job to take care of me, and Mr. Nigon and his lawyer avoiding our phone calls regarding any type of financial settlement. We are currently in very serious danger of having our home foreclosed upon. The bill collectors do not stop calling, and our taxes are going to put an even further strain on us at the end of the year. It may take us many years to get back to the position that we were before this violent act occurred, and our credit rating will be affected for an even longer time.
Our dreams of starting a family and owning a home have been destroyed. Julies ambitious collegiate career has been slowed to a grinding halt. My newly established poor credit may effect my ability to receive the quality employment that I could have received before as an independent contractor.
It is difficult for me to accept the terminology "accident" when it is used for what Mr. Nigon did to my wife and I. He willingly drank. He willingly drove drunk and he willingly refused to pull over when the police started to chase him. His conduct of resisting the officers even after he hit us and I was right next to him trapped in my car, screaming in pain, and waiting to be cut out with the jaws of life, is simply unforgivable. Every aspect of what occurred was entirely avoidable.
Please do not let Mr. Nigon use his family situation as a consideration to reduce his sentence. I beg of this court to give him the most severe punishment available. I beg of this court to serve justice. I beg of this court to send a clear message to Jefferson county and the state of Colorado that driving while intoxicated will not be tolerated and that if you injure someone in the process for the first or 5th time that you will be punished severely.
One other consideration that I would like for the court to take is in regard to Mr. Nigon's eventual release from jail or prison. I think that it is important that Mr. Nigon, if ever allowed to drive again, has a device installed in his vehicle that would require him to blow into it and register a 0 Blood alcohol level in order for the car to start. That is all, thank you.