A judge denies probation to Louis S. Mevec, to the relief - and anguish - of the family of a boy who was accidentally killed.
By MEGAN SCOTT
Published February 13, 2004
LARGO - Jeanne Caroline sat in the courtroom looking weary.
She had been unable to sleep. She hadn't left the house in days, except for this.
She has been waiting to see whether a man charged in connection with her son's death would be allowed to plead guilty - and receive a lighter sentence.
On Thursday, Judge Brandt Downey ruled in her favor. But that won't end Caroline's sleepless nights.
Downey denied a defense motion to give Louis S. Mevec probation and set a trial date of June 15. That left Caroline both relieved and upset.
"I wanted it to end today," said Caroline, who was wearing a T-shirt with her dead son's face on the front. "I knew it wouldn't. I wish he would have pleaded guilty and took whatever punishment like his son did."
Mevec, 52, was charged with culpable negligence for leaving a loaded .357-caliber Magnum pistol under his couch. His 14-year-old son shot and killed Sean Caroline, 12, on Sept. 5.
Louis J. Mevec, 14, was sentenced to a treatment program in San Antonio. The sentence carried no specific period of incarceration, but most youths stay for less than nine months. If the elder Mevec is convicted, he faces up to six years in prison.
As Jeanne Caroline watched the proceedings, she knew that no matter what Mevec received, it would not be enough to bring her son back.
She sat with family that included her husband and sister.
In a hearing on Monday, defense attorney Debora Moss said her client should not face prison time because he was remorseful and the incident was isolated. She asked Downey to offer Mevec probation or house arrest in exchange for a guilty plea.
Jeanne Caroline, 43, and her husband, Sean, 42, told Downey a prison term would send a message that there are consequences to negligent gun ownership.
That day, 25 of Sean's friends and family were at the courthouse, holding signs advocating gun locks and chanting, "How many children have to die?"
On Thursday, though, the scene was relatively quiet. Jeanne Caroline had asked the children not to come because she thought it would be too emotional.
In making his ruling, Downey said he had heard from the defendant's brother that when Mevec lived in New York, he had a lock on the gun.
"He had them up there," Downey said. "He could have used them down here and didn't. Secondly, I heard that at the time of the incident he had another weapon upstairs in between two mattresses which was unloaded.
"If that one was unloaded, then I see no reason in the world why the one downstairs could not have been unloaded, too."
Mevec stood stoically at the podium while the judge issued his ruling.
Downey said he could not take into consideration the fact that Mevec has children.
"Any time anyone is incarcerated who has family, it creates a bad situation for that family," Downey said. "But as far as I know there are absolutely no cases that I can take that into consideration and consider that as a mitigating circumstance for a family."
On Sunday, Jeanne Caroline had Sean's name tattooed on her arm. There's a cross with a halo on it and a rose. Sean's nickname, Seanne (pronounced Shawnee), is scripted on her forearm.
Jeanne Caroline is a grieving mother in search of answers. She says Sean is with Jesus. She longs for the day she can be there, too.
"Sean and I have been up and down," she said before the ruling. "Everyone else hasn't slept either. I don't think I will sleep afterwards."
Downey said he was not completely closing the door on a plea. The families could come to an agreement, or he could hear testimony that could change his mind.
While the elder Sean Caroline said he was relieved at the judge's decision, he doesn't think the case will go to trial. If it does, he worries that Mevec could get a sympathetic jury.
"It went better than I thought," he said. "I thought it could have gone either way. I still don't believe he will get the max."
As Jeanne and Sean Caroline talked to the television cameras, he rubbed her back.
Her eyes filled with tears as she thought about her baby. Half her heart is gone.
"You know how when you buy a new car, all the sudden you see it everywhere?" she said. "The only thing I see now is how many children are dying from unsecured guns."
