St. HELENS, Ore. -- A young woman permanently injured in a horrific car crash back in 2007 wants a judge to grant her $125,000 compensation.
Oregon is the only state with a provision that could allow her to get such a settlement in a criminal case.
"I think it’s the fair thing to do. It's what the statute allows the court to do and I think it's what the court is inclined to do,” said Janine Robben with Oregon Crime Victims’ Law Center.
Monday in court, Rihannon Meyer was sitting just feet away from her one-time friend, Fred Fulmer, who was driving drunk when the crash occurred. She asked the judge that Fulmer not only face jail time, but pay her compensation for a life that will never be the same.
Meyer is not the same person she used to be. She often can’t even remember things that just happened and she has permanent brain damage.
“I may not remember from hour to hour or five minutes to the next five, but I kind of know who I am," she explained in court. "I will never be the same person I was before. I won't ever be the same."
Meyer was hospitalized in a medically-induced coma for nearly a month after the crash.
“Not only did I lose a part of myself, I lost all my friends. I lost who I was before. I can't ever be that person again. I don't even know who that person is,” she said.
At the end of Monday’s court appearance, the judge decided to delay the decision on the fine but sentenced Fulmer to 70 days in jail and suspended his drivers license for two years.
His license had already been suspended from a previous DUI conviction that occurred two years after the crash which nearly killed Meyer.
The judge said she will make a ruling on the fine soon but did not schedule a specific date for the decision.
