Posted: Fri, 2 Apr 2010 08:26 AM - 10,021 Readers
By: Steven Kreytak
In a private meeting Thursday with the drunken driver he thinks could have killed him in a crash on Loop 360 in West Austin last year, Jon Weisblatt passed the man a picture of his children Ethan, 7, and Eliana, 4.
Zachary Pickrell , 26, who was sentenced to probation in the case last week , took a long, close look at the photo.
"I just want to make sure that this doesn't happen to other kids' parents," said Weisblatt, 40.
"You've been given an opportunity here. My one request is you make the most of it."
The Travis County district attorney's office has long convened similar meetings between crime victims and defendants in a limited number of cases, but Thursday's meeting was set up by state District Judge Charlie Baird, the first time he has done that since taking the bench in 2007.
It happened after Weisblatt e-mailed Baird last week, complaining about the sentence Baird gave Pickrell. Because of previous convictions, Pickrell could have faced up to 10 years in prison. Baird said he called Weisblatt on Monday and explained his thinking — that Pickrell seemed to be earnest about his recovery from alcoholism and that he had the support of his boss, who also acts as a father figure. Baird told Weisblatt that Pickrell would eventually get out of prison, but giving him probation now gives him the best chance of becoming a successful member of society.
Baird offered to order Pickrell to court so the two could meet. Weisblatt accepted.
Pickrell learned about the meeting only when he showed up at Baird's courtroom in the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center on Thursday morning. He was accompanied by Mark McCandless, his boss at Austin Refrigeration, an air-conditioning company. Pickrell wore a company T-shirt and jeans and carried a black baseball cap.
Baird escorted the pair into his jury room, where Weisblatt, wearing a blue sport coat and khaki slacks, waited with a friend. Pickrell sat across from Weisblatt at a dark wood conference table in the brightly lit room.
"You all can visit for as long as you like," Baird said as he left the room, closing the door behind him.
"It's good to meet you," said Weisblatt, a marketing consultant for high-tech companies.
"Good to meet you, too," Pickrell said. He appeared queasy but looked right at Weisblatt. "Sorry about the circumstances."
Weisblatt asked McCandless about his business, and he explained that he hired Pickrell about four years ago. About a year and a half ago, they "parted ways" as Pickrell "spiraled out of control."
McCandless said Pickrell is doing much better now and back working for him. "He's a good kid. He can be a positive member of society."
Weisblatt turned to Pickrell and asked about his background. Pickrell said he grew up mostly in rural Alabama. His father committed suicide when he was 6. He said he moved to Austin with his mother when he was 11.
"I love this town," Pickrell said. "It's diverse; there's a lot of culture."
Alluding to Pickrell's previous convictions, Weisblatt asked Pickrell what is different this time.
"I'm fed up," Pickrell said. "I never thought I'd be a person who would hurt someone and almost kill them. That scares ... me.
"I'm sorry."
Pickrell was first convicted of driving while intoxicated in Victoria County in 2000, when he was 17. He was convicted again just over a year later in Travis County.
In April 2004, he was indicted on a charge of boating while intoxicated in Travis County and because of the previous convictions, the charge was a third-degree felony. He was not arrested on the warrant for that indictment until 2008.
In February 2009, he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor and was sentenced to probation and 30 days of jail time, to be served on weekends.
He was on probation April 4, 2009, Pickrell said, and drinking with friends on the shores of Lake Travis near the Loop 360 bridge. That night, he crashed into Weisblatt.
During Thursday's 40-minute meeting, Weisblatt said he had family in town from Dallas that night and they had gone to dinner at Waterloo Ice House near RM 2222 and Loop 360. After dinner, he headed north on Loop 360 with his grandmother, then 82, in the car.
"We were looking at the cut rock and the houses up on the hill and just got smashed," Weisblatt said.
Pickrell said he remembers nothing from the crash.
Weisblatt told him that emergency responders estimated that Pickrell could have been traveling about 100 mph. He said Pickrell's Chevy Blazer went across the median, across the southbound lanes and stopped in a ditch.
photography by Ricardo B. Brazziell
