Sarah Gleason and Joe Swiech
/ family photo
Sarah Gleason and Joe Swiech grew up in Liverpool and Oswego. Careers brought both of them to Florida. The couple lived near Tampa and was planning their marriage and their lives together. But Sarah and Joe’s young lives ended tragically in March 2006 when the couple where run down by a truck as they walked home.
Florida prosecutors say 38-year-old Shannon Stephen's blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit when he hit the couple and drove off - but a jury in 2008 deadlocked. A retrial is now underway. On Tuesday night, Sarah Gleason's relatives said it's been a long wait - but their feelings are still so raw.
"You have days you're upset but then there's days when you're mad and want justice,” said Joanne Gleason, Sarah’s aunt. “You have to be strong because you can't be weak. You want to see justice in this. This man did it, two people are dead, their lives have stopped, two families are affected."
Stephen’s defense attorney says there are no witnesses that saw Shannon Stephen behind the wheel. Stephen was caught when friends of the victims stopped his truck and kept him from leaving until police arrived. Jackie Strait said her niece Sarah was in the prime of her life when she was killed and Strait said she feels more confident that the prosecutor will prove Stephen's guilt in the second trial.
I feel he has an even stronger case now and I feel much more confident in that,” said Strait. “He's worked really hard and we'll get the verdict we're looking for."
Sarah's aunts hope to be in Tampa for the end of the trial. They say a guilty verdict would not only hold Stephen responsible for the crime but it would also give them a sense of closure.
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Read more on this story from tampabay.com.
