Ms. Hoyt is obviously distraught over her son and granddaughter’s fate, but what she needs to realize is that her son broke the law, killed Connie, and tried to cover his crime up. Shannon Houser MUST be punished, regardless if a jail sentence would bring Connie back or not. He has a history of negligence that end up costing people their lives. The Blounts are not going to go back to Utah and be happy– that was an extremely ignorant statement on Ms. Hoyt’s behalf. I’m genuinely sorry that her granddaughter won’t have a father for the next 5 or 6 years of her life, but better that than Houser killing another person. His sentence was light–I personally feel that he should have been convicted of manslaughter (at the very least), but this conviction gives at least some closure to the Blounts. I hope that Houser will learn his lesson and will become a better, more productive (and less negligent) member of society once his sentence is up.

These two statements infuriate me. Everyone has responsibilities for their actions and must pay for those that wrong others. The jury took into consideration the fact that he was guilty, not that he was in a family of “nobodies”, as his mother put it. And seriously?? The Blounts get to go home and be happy?? Losing a loved one and then seeing the man who caused her death get off on petty charges in no way makes a family “happy”.