‘My family got the death sentence,’ mother tells repeat DWI offender

Moments after Stewart Richardson was sentenced to 50 years in prison for driving drunk and causing a crash that led to the death of her son, Loubna Elharazin was visibly angry.

“My husband and I came close to having a divorce because of what you have done to us,” Elharazin told Richardson on Wednesday morning. “I’m so afraid to have more children because there are so many people like you out there and I don’t know who is going to stop you. My family has to live with this pain forever. My family got the death sentence, and you got life.”

Elharazin made her victim impact statement after spending three days in state District Judge George Gallagher’s courtroom testifying about and reliving the horror of her son’s slow death. Abdallah Khader was severely injured when Richardson drove drunk and crashed into the Khaders’ car on Feb. 20. 2009, in Arlington.

Almost 3 at the time of the crash, Abdallah died this January after spending the last years of his life in a vegetative state.

Richardson pleaded guilty in June to all charges. Lab results from the Tarrant County medical examiner’s office showed that his blood-alcohol level at the time of the crash was 0.25, more than three times the legal limit.

He chose to have a judge assess his sentence, and Gallagher gave him 50 years in prison on three counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury. Richardson was also sentenced to 20 years in prison on a felony DWI charge, with both sentences to run concurrently.

Richardson, 51, will not be eligible for parole until 2040, when he will have served at least half his sentence, said Richard Alpert, Tarrant County assistant district attorney.

Alpert told the court that Richardson had been convicted of 22 offenses in four states, including six that were alcohol-related, but had spent less than 50 days in jail. He said he did not understand why judges continually turned Richardson loose on an unsuspecting society.

“Anything that was out there that could turn a person around, he was exposed to,” Alpert said. “Since he was 24 years old, no matter where he’s lived, there has been no peace.”

Richardson’s attorneys, William “Bill” Ray and Jerry Wood, called a string of jail chaplains to testify in their client’s behalf, and all said Richardson is a changed man after the 2009 crash. He has been in jail for six years, and one chaplain said he prayed for God to heal the child he injured.

“Jail is the best place for you,” Elharazin told Richardson. “You became a better person in prison. You got closer to God in prison.”

This story was originally published July 29, 2015 at 4:53 PM with the headline "‘My family got the death sentence,’ mother tells repeat DWI offender."