Many of these letters acknowledge the agony experienced by the six teen-agers killed in the March 2000 accident on Interstate 15. But they don't believe Williams deserves a lengthy sentence. Suffering does not reward suffering. Stephanie Greig of New York, a former Las Vegas resident, said she and others in Nevada have tried to drive for long stretches while sleepy. Only Williams had the misfortune to fall asleep along a stretch of road where county officials had assigned a youth offenders work crew to collect trash, she said.
Several writers criticize the county for placing the children in the freeway median.
In a letter signed by 11 others, Las Vegas resident Dorothy La Munyon said the officials responsible for this assignment made a greater mistake than Williams. An Ohio college student wrote that he began sending Williams letters of support after he learned of the case while visiting Las Vegas on business. Among the handwritten letters was one sent by a man serving time in California for a nonfatal DUI accident. Prisoner Michael Garcia described how he came to appreciate the seriousness of the actions that landed him in prison. Lengthy incarceration is not necessary for Williams to reach the same level of understanding, he said.