Where’s The Indignation? When Are We Going To Make This Stop?!

It seems like it kind of slid under the radar here in St. George, but a ruling was made in court late last week to sentence the man who caused the death of two young and vibrant human beings last April.

John Brett Sartor, who had a blood-alcohol content of .22 at the time of the accident, was sentenced to 1-15 years in prison (two counts), which means he very well could be out of jail by St. Patrick's Day 2025.

I have no intention of assaulting Sartor's character (he claims he was swerving to miss a deer at the time), but rather the justice system that seems to value suspects' rights and freedom over justice and equality.

Let me lay it out for you: On Apr. 3, 2022, Sartor crossed the median on Old Highway 91, and hit the motorcycle that carried Jacob Adam Cadreact and his fiancée Lindsay Lee Contreras head on.

The couple was thrown from the bike and pronounced dead at the scene.

Not only was Sartor blindingly drunk, but he was a man who should have never been behind the wheel.

In fact, he had been arrested SEVEN TIMES for driving under the influence. Seven!

He had served a minimal amount of time in jail for his offenses, even after causing a head on crash back in 2016 in which his blood-alcohol content was an unbelievable .30.

During that investigation, just like last April, Sartor was driving without a license and had apparently disabled the interlock device that was supposed to prevent him from driving his vehicle.

He'd had four DUIs in a five-year stretch from 2015-2020, and the only thing stopping him from getting another was a year or so spent in prison. At least three times while out on parole for his myriad DUIs Sartor violated that parole by getting arrested for DUI again.

He was on parole when he struck and killed Cadreact and Contreras in April.

To be sure, Sartor is the bad guy here. But his accomplice is the justice system. He should NEVER have been driving a car. In fact, he should not have been out of prison.

According to Mothers Against Drunk Driving, Utah gets five stars for its battle to stop drunk driving, with laws set to apply suspended license and interlock devices.

But clearly these things didn't work this time. Sartor, an obvious serial offender, kept driving while drunk until finally at long last he killed someone (or two someones in this case).

The sad thing is that he'll be out in two years or so and he'll do it again. And more innocent people will die.

One final thought, according to MADD, the average person drives drunk 80 times before their first arrest.

We've got to do better.