Woman who killed 2 to be paroled
Four years, three months, and 15 days after she was sentenced to 15 years in jail for intentionally crashing her car into another vehicle and killing two people, Justine Winter was granted parole by state officials Monday.
Winter, 22, of Evergreen, will have to complete pre-release requirements in the next few months, but will likely be released in December, according to Mike Webster, senior parole analyst for the Montana Board of Pardon and Parole.
Webster said Winter will be released to supervision of the state’s parole office in Missoula. She will be subject to normal conditions of release to remain law-abiding.
“It’s just a typical, standard condition, nothing special parole,” Webster said. “It was just a quick hearing.”
Winter and members of the parole board were the only people in attendance at Monday’s hearing. No one wrote letters. No one gave testimony, except Winter. It stood in contrast to August of last year, the first time Winter came up for parole. Then members of the victims’ families and supporters of Winter both weighed in. After the hearing, Winter was approved to move from jail to a Billings pre-release center where she could prove that she was worthy of release.
Diane Johnson said she wanted to weigh in on Winter’s release, but was advised not to. Johnson is mother of pregnant 35-year-old Erin Thompson, who was killed in the crash along with her son, 13-year-old Caden Odell. Investigators determined Winter drove her car head-on into Thompson’s vehicle on March 19, 2009, at 85 miles per hour, shortly after texting her boyfriend that she intended to commit suicide.
“I asked if I came would it make a difference, and they said no. That’s what the parole officer told me,” Johnson said of why she wasn’t in attendance at Monday’s hearing. “They told me it wouldn’t do any good to come.”
Johnson said her family finally received an apology from Winter last year before the first parole hearing, but that it didn’t seem sincere.
“I would still like to hear a real apology from her,” Johnson said. “What we got so far was more of a form letter, I felt.”
When she was originally asked to apologize at a sentencing hearing on June 6, 2011, Winter would not completely apologize and take responsibility for the crash.
“I just want you guys to know that you may feel I don’t take accountability but it’s not accountability I need to take,” Winter told the family at sentencing. “It’s, it’s — I don’t know what it is.”
Johnson said a member of the parole board told her that Winter will likely live with an aunt and enroll in college in Missoula. Johnson said she hopes Winter can change her life for the better.
“I don’t have any control over whether she is paroled or not and I don’t want to let her occupy any more of my life and time and heart,” Johnson said. “I guess it is disappointing she didn’t serve a longer time, but on a positive side if she goes to the university and can turn her life around and do something good with it, hopefully she’ll eventually someday be on the way to put herself on the other side of it and have compassion.”
If Winter does not comply with the law and again finds herself in jail, she could be imprisoned for more than 15 years. She was sentenced to two 30-year sentences for deliberate homicide, with 15 years suspended on each. Suspended sentences can be re-imposed if a parolee does not meet conditions of release.
Reporter Megan Strickland may be reached at 758-4459 or by email at mstrickland@dailyinterlake.com.