Since her teen daughter was killed last year by hit-and-run driver Lemuel Payne in Sharon Hill, Kim Ferrell has said she wanted just one thing: to look in Payne's eyes and forgive him.
Yesterday, with much pain in her own eyes, Ferrell turned to the man responsible for her daughter's death and forgave him - before he was sentenced and before he even offered an apology.
"Who am I not to forgive Mr. Payne?" Ferrell later said. "If I don't forgive him, then I'm no better than the mistake he made."
Payne, 27, of Upper Darby, was sentenced to two to five years in state prison with a consecutive year of probation for the Aug. 3 accident that killed 16-year-old Faith Sinclair. He pleaded guilty in Delaware County Court on June 22.
Sinclair, a Ridley High School honor student, was crossing Chester Pike near Laurel Road with a group of friends when Payne's Mercedes-Benz struck her.
Four days later, police found the damaged car under a blanket behind the darkened windows of Payne's garage.
In April, Payne skipped out on his electronic home monitoring to attend a party at a Philadelphia nightclub. As a result, his $75,000 bail was revoked.
Yesterday, Payne's attorney, Mark Much, said that people have unfairly assumed that Payne, who was convicted of driving under the influence in 2006, was drunk the night of the accident.
Much said he had planned to present a witness yesterday who would have testified to Payne's sobriety that night, but the witness never showed.
Payne, a father of two, was described by those who testified on his behalf as courteous, honest and responsible.
"But the one time when it mattered, when it really mattered on August 3, 2008, he didn't help," Assistant District Attorney Lindsay McDonald said.
Payne spoke briefly, apologizing to Sinclair's family and his own before saying that he was just a human being who'd panicked that night.
"I ask God for forgiveness every night," he said. "God is good and he talked back to me and I guess he granted me forgiveness."
Sinclair's family said that despite their forgiveness, Payne has given them a "life sentence."
"People hit deer and stop, and you hit our granddaughter and did not stop," said Sinclair's grandmother Margaret Saganich.
Ferrell, who visits her daughter's grave twice a day, said the fact that the case had ended was starting to sink in.
"I think God's making it real now because it hurts to see her pictures, and I don't want to hurt when I look at her anymore," she said.
Judge Frank T. Hazel, who sentenced above the standard range on the two charges Payne faced - leaving the scene of an accident involving death and tampering with physical evidence - said yesterday's sentence was not an epilogue.
"I will walk away from this case and go on to the next in my docket but you won't," Hazel said. "You each will live for another day.
"I think the test for each family is what you do now," he said. "There will be tomorrows. Look for them. Don't look back." *
