Family of Arlington man killed by accused drunk driver insulted by probation plea deal
Kyanna Virgil used to spend at least 30 minutes every day on the phone with her dad.
She was living in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and her father, Timothy Shorter, lived in Arlington. She would call him every day on the way home from the classes she was taking to earn a degree in early childhood education. They would cover everything from her hopes of starting a handmade cosmetics business to how her 12-year-old sister was doing to what was going on at Shorter’s work.
But it’s been more than four years since Virgil has had the opportunity to talk to her father.
Shorter, 47, was heading in to work around 6:40 a.m. on New Year’s Day 2019 when, according to Arlington police, another vehicle on Interstate 30 swerved out of its lane, hit Shorter’s car and sent it into a concrete pillar. Through their investigation, police said in 2019 that they determined the driver of the other car was drunk.
Elizabeth Stratton, now 40, was arrested and charged with intoxication manslaughter. On Friday, Virgil said, her family has been told prosecutors expect Stratton to plead guilty in exchange for 10 years of probation and no jail time. The Fort Worth woman has, up to this point, pleaded not guilty to the intoxication manslaughter charge.
“I feel the closer we get to this sentencing, it just gets a little bit harder,” Virgil said. “It almost feels like reliving the day. ... We’re equally angry as we are saddened by the plea deal for 10 years’ probation.”
The Tarrant County Criminal District Attorney’s Office declined to comment, citing the case’s pending status. Stratton’s attorney, Thomas Sellers, did not respond to a Star-Telegram request for comment Wednesday afternoon.
Virgil said that Shorter’s family was contacted last year by the district attorney’s office and asked if they would be OK with a potential plea deal that would see Stratton serve probation with no prison time and no restitution. They told prosecutors that wasn’t acceptable, she said.
Now, especially after having already asked for the family’s blessing on the deal, Virgil said the offer of probation in exchange for a guilty plea would feel like a betrayal.
“Speaking for my entire family, it’s really disrespectful,” Virgil said. “It’s almost like a slap in the face. As if his death meant nothing.”
If convicted at trial, Stratton could face a prison sentence between two and 20 years. According to Tarrant County court records, she was offered a plea agreement for a five-year sentence in 2022. Prosecutors have said that Stratton violated the conditions of her release on bond several times in 2019 and 2020 when she tested positive for alcohol, amphetamines and benzodiazepines, court documents show.
Lectures, love and life lessons
Shorter’s daughter said the loss of her father is something she still hasn’t completely processed. Those calls when she was headed home from school or he was headed home from work gave Virgil plenty of time to get advice from her father, share with him her successes and the obstacles she was facing and hear about how his life was going.
It was a continuation of the relationship she’d had with him her whole life.
Virgil remembers frequently the regular car rides she and her sister would take with Shorter, who was a father of six. He’d spend the time talking to them about life, giving them advice. She called them “his lectures.”
“He would just give us advice in life and he would say, ‘Y’all probably aren’t listening now, but when y’all grow up you’re going to say your daddy was right,’ “ Virgil said. “Maybe I wasn’t listening that well back then, but I remember those lectures in the car, sitting in the back seat. I just carry those lessons with me and they help me as I get older.”
Shorter has been gone for four years, but that ability Virgil’s had almost her whole life to go to her father and share good news or ask for advice and seek encouragement is something she still expects on some unconscious level. She still reaches for her phone when life is good or times are tough, as well as every birthday, wanting to call Shorter.
It still doesn’t feel completely real, but Virgil said that right after Shorter died she had trouble accepting that she was living in reality.
“I used to have dreams, nightmares really, even though they weren’t scary, and my dad was always in my dreams,” Virgil said. “I remember one dream I won’t forget. I saw my daddy and said, ‘Oh, Daddy, they said you died.’ And he he said, ‘No, you know your daddy’s always gonna be all right.’ We would be talking before he died and I would say, ‘Daddy, we’re talking a lot about me, what about you?’ And that’s something he would say. ‘You know you’re daddy’s always gonna be all right.’ “
Virgil doesn’t know if she’ll ever stop reaching for that phone.
And every year on her birthday, Virgil would get a text from her father. It used to make her laugh, because Shorter talked regularly about how much he hated texting. Now she can’t bring herself to delete those texts.
Shorter’s top priority in life was making sure his children knew their family and experienced the love and support their relatives could offer, his daughter said.
Virgil recalls one day, not long after she and some of her other siblings had graduated high school and moved away for college, she got a call from her father.
“My dad called me one day upset and said, ‘I just got off the phone with your bother and he doesn’t have your number,’ “ Virgil said. “I told him we hadn’t talked in a couple of months and he said, ‘No, I didn’t raise y’all like this. I raised y’all to talk to each other. That’s family.’ “
The importance Shorter placed on staying in touch with family was passed down to his children. Virgil said that she’s doing her best to keep the family together the way her father wanted. She’s driven on through the hard times by remembering the way her father used to say she was “strong just like your daddy.”
He also used to call Virgil his “babygirl,” something that he only called her.
About a year before Shorter died, Virgil got engaged to a man in Wisconsin. Her fiance called her father several times to ask his blessing but could never get in touch with him. When Virgil called, he told her he wasn’t answering the phone because he knew why the man was calling.
“He told me he wasn’t calling back because he knew why my fiance was calling and he wasn’t ready to give up his babygirl yet,” Virgil said. “We talked for hours that time and he told me that he always knew his kids would get older but it just all happened so fast.”
That memory is bittersweet for Virgil. It’s a reminder of the way her father loved her and her siblings, but also that when she gets married he won’t be there to walk her down the aisle.
It’s been a painful journey for the rest of the family, too.
Virgil’s sister, Tatum, was 12 when Shorter died. She had trouble leaving her bedroom, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic hit and she didn’t have to leave the house for school.
“I watched the sorrow grow in her eyes,” Virgil said. “I would literally have to go in her room and get her and ask her and try to convince her to come out. And I could tell she was having a hard time processing it.”
Tatum is doing better now, Virgil said, but she still hasn’t come to terms with what happened and still doesn’t want to talk about it. Tatum loves sushi, something that amuses her siblings because of her age, so Virgil will take her out for sushi whenever she can as an excuse for getting out of the house.
Virgil also watched her stepmother lose weight and have difficulty with day-to-day life. And her mother, who still lives in Wisconsin, tells her regularly that Virgil reminds her of Shorter, from her body language to the way she looks out for family.
‘I can’t offer grace at this moment’
The relationships Shorter had with his family have made news of the proposed plea deal even more devastating, Virgil said.
Prosecutors have offered no explanation to Shorter’s family, Virgil said.
Virgil said that as a Christian she wants to be able to forgive the woman accused of killing her father while driving drunk, but she can’t. She’s sensed no remorse from the woman. And the fact that, if the deal is accepted, Stratton would only serve probation instead of prison time makes that even harder, she said.
“I’m truly a woman of God and I wanted to offer grace at any moment in time, because everybody makes mistakes, everybody deserves grace, everybody has moments they wish they could take back,” Virgil said. “I can’t offer grace at this moment.”
She said it feels like everybody from the district attorneys office to Stratton and her attorneys to the court want to put this behind them, “like this didn’t happened. Like somebody’s father didn’t die.”
After a prosecutor from the district attorney’s office called to tell the family the plea deal had been offered, Virgil said none of them have been able to get in touch with the DA’s office.
It doesn’t help that the trial has been rescheduled multiple times. Every time family members felt like they were about to finally go to court and move on to the next phase of processing Shorter’s death, they were informed it was being pushed back.
“It’s just been a lengthy, devastating process for us,” Virgil said. “I’m hoping that one day it just doesn’t weigh so heavy.”