Father of teen girl killed by drive-by shooter issues heartfelt, emotional plea to judge
EVERETT -- The father of a teen girl killed by a 28-year-old drive-by shooter has released a copy of an emotional letter he sent to the judge in the case late last year.
Molly Conley, 15, was fatally shot on her birthday as she walked with friends to a house along a Lake Stevens road in 2013.
Erick Walker was found guilty of manslaughter, assault and five counts of drive-by shooting, after prosecutors convinced a jury that Walker went on a three-hour shooting spree, indiscriminately firing from his car before hitting Conley.
Walker was sentenced to more than 90 years in prison Tuesday for the crime by Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne.
Wynne said the death of Conley had a devastating impact on her family and friends and said Erick Walker terrorized the community.
Shortly after the sentencing, Conley's father, John Conley, released a heartfelt letter he sent to Wynne in December, pleading for an extended sentence for his daughter's killer.
In the letter, John Conley says he can't describe the amount of joy Molly brought to his life, nor the amount of grief her loss brought. Instead, he provided Wynne with a comparison between Molly and one of the most-loved literary characters of all time. Attached to the letter was a photo of John holding Molly at her birth.
Rather than quote the letter, Q13 FOX News has decided to publish it in full here:
Honorable Judge Wynne
Snohomish County Superior Court
RE: STATE vs. ERICK NATHANIEL WALKER, Case # 13-1-01557-3
Dear Honorable Judge Wynne
There is no possible way to quantify or describe the amount of joy my daughter Molly brought into my life.
There is no possible way to quantify the amount of joy Molly would have continued to bring into my life.
There is no possible way to quantify or describe the amount of loss and grief Molly’s murder has brought into my life.
The IMPACT that this crime, this process has levied on my community, my family, my children, my soul is simply too vast, too devastating to describe.
Molly preferred to read hard cover books, especially the ones she planned to keep. When ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ was assigned in English, spring 2013, we bought a used classic edition for her room. This book is written through the eyes of a sassy, precocious, book loving tomboy in braids; a perfect description of our Molly before a beautiful young woman emerged in the last years of her life. After we lost Molly I opened the book by her bed to her book mark; I discovered the following passage underlined, the last thing she likely read.
Atticus speaking to Jem:
"'I'd rather you shot at tin cans in the back yard, but I know you'll go after birds.
Shoot all the blue jays you want, if you can hit 'em, but remember it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'" That was the only time I ever heard Atticus say it was a sin to do something, and I asked Miss Maudie about it. "'Your father's right,' she said. 'Mockingbirds don't do one thing but make music for us to enjoy. They don't eat up people's gardens, don't nest in corncribs, they don't do one thing but sing their hearts out for us. That's why it's a sin to kill a mockingbird.'"
I cannot accept a world where my Son, my Daughter share their freedom with the man who murdered their sister. Judge Wynne, I am asking that you impose a sentence which ensures the murderer of my child dies in prison.
Respectfully,
John Conley