Two teens dead. A third permanently injured. A fourth led from a courtroom in handcuffs to spend four years locked away.

There was no happy ending Friday morning at the sentencing for Marshal Gregory, a Parker teenager who killed two friends and severely injured a third in a Sept. 1, 2014 drunken-driving crash near Black Forest. Before the hearing, court staff passed out several new boxes of tissues to the overflowing court audience. Nearly all the boxes were empty by the end.

Fourth Judicial District Judge G. David Miller sentenced Gregory to four years in the Youth Offender System, a program in a medium-security Pueblo facility for teens convicted as adults. Four years was the minimum amount of time Gregory could serve under a plea deal that he accepted in August. If Gregory fails in the program, he faces 12 years in prison.

Miller said he felt the sentence was appropriate to respect the loss of life but also not so long that it would keep Gregory from rehabilitating himself and continuing his life.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a case more poignant that has left a larger impression on me,” Miller said, noting that, as a father, his nightmare was the experience that the family members in the courtroom were living.

Agonizing through Friday’s sentencing hearing were family members of Beau Beiger, 17, and Ryan Pappas, 18, who were killed in the crash and of Jack Clark, who was severely injured and still suffers. Friday was their chance to speak up for their family members in court and recommend a sentence to the judge.

Ellen Clark, the mother of Jack Clark, said she forgave Gregory even though her son had fractured vertebrae and a punctured lung from the crash and suffers the lingering effects of a traumatic brain injury.

“Our lives are different, but all our lives, including Marshal’s can still be good,” Ellen Clark said. “We know the accident was a tragic mistake.”

She recommended that Miller give Gregory the minimum sentence.

Taking a harder stance were family members of Beiger, who were angered when the defense tried to blame the crash on their son in an earlier hearing.

“He can prove he is sorry,” said Don Beiger, Beau’s father. “He has breath in his lungs and blood in his veins. The rest of his life can be an apology. I don’t want to hear it.”

Susan Pappas, Ryan’s mother, asked the judge for the maximum sentence of six years. She told the judge that she thought time would make the loss of her son easier, but it’s just gotten harder.

“My sadness brings no honor to Ryan,” she sobbed. “I bind up the tears with prayers and hopes and keep going. This is not something you get over. We will never be the same.”

Both the Pappas and Beiger families showed the court slideshows of their sons growing up, starting with pictures of sleepy babies and beaming parents and ending with images of teenagers, both a bit daredevil, both ready to take on the world.

Gregory had a chance to speak in his defense after the family members of the victims. He could not contain his grief as he apologized and begged for forgiveness.

“I wish it was my life and not theirs,” he told the families. “I hope that justice and forgiveness can come from this awful experience.”

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