Anger becomes forgiveness for father of DUI-death victim

Baltimore County (Map, News) - When Jessica Vetter was killed by a drunken driver in 2007, her father, Jeff, was so overcome with rage he contemplated killing the young man responsible.

Today Jeff Vetter will try to persuade a Baltimore County judge to release his daughter’s killer from jail.

The about-face — in which a victim’s parent is arguing for a offender to be freed — is unusual in Maryland’s criminal justice system, attorneys for both sides say.

“Since I’ve done this — forgiveness — I’m a different person,” Vetter, 50, of Cecil County, said in an interview last week. “I was in another world with anger and frustration. I’ve been released out of that world.”

Jessica Vetter, 20, was killed after being struck around 9 p.m. April 20, 2007, on York Road near the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. She was riding on the back of a motorcycle when Michael Jacoby, 24, driving a Toyota Corolla, crashed into the bike. Vetter was pronounced dead at 8:34 the next morning.

Jacoby, of Hunt Valley, had a blood alcohol level of 0.16 — twice the legal driving limit, police said.

Prosecutor Allan Webster said he would honor Jeff Vetter’s wishes and argue that Jacoby be put on home detention, with the idea that Jacoby will join Vetter at speaking engagements on the dangers of drunken driving.

“[Jeff Vetter] wanted this guy to get 10 years in prison,” Webster said. “After the sentencing, he called me. He said he wouldn’t be able to live with himself if something happened to him at the detention center. ... I rarely get a chance to turn a negative into a positive. We’re going to try to do something decent out of this whole thing.”

Jacoby’s attorney, Richard Miller, said of Vetter’s changed attitude: “It shows you the capacity for human emotion.”

Vetter said his change of heart came after seeing Jacoby in court.

“I wanted to kill him at first. At one point, I drove down that way trying to catch up with him. Luckily, I never did,” the father said. “Our court date came up, and I was thinking I would feel better after this kid got some time. But he was shy. He was frail. He wasn’t the monster I was expecting to see. His family, they’re not bad people. This kid was very sorry for what he did. They had been going to the site where my daughter died and leaving flowers. It was really touching.”

Since the sentencing, Vetter visited Jacoby at the Baltimore County jail, where he’s serving an 18-month sentence for vehicular manslaughter.

“We talked about forgiveness. I said, ‘You asked for that, and I can handle that. I’m not just doing it for you, I’m doing it for myself.’ I was angry for a year and a half. I was so out of control you couldn’t talk to me. Now it feels like someone took a ton off my back. I’m not that religious, but there must be a God around for that to happen to me.”

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com

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