Mother of '03 DUI victim fights parole

TAYLORSVILLE — The man killed one of her children and nearly ruined the lives of two others, Liza Smith says. And three years is not enough punishment for that crime, she says, not by a long shot.

"There is no way he should be out of prison."

Four years ago — five days before Halloween — a drunken Tory Lee Jacques blew through a stop sign in a quiet Magna neighborhood, and his vehicle struck four members of the Smith family as they walked toward McDonald's.

"There's no way to describe how this has ruined our lives," Liza Smith said.

Jacques is scheduled to make his first appearance before the Utah Board of Pardons and Parole today. It is a routine event for every inmate at the Utah State Prison and often a formality in homicide cases.

"This hearing is set to consider him for parole, but just because he's having this hearing doesn't necessarily mean he'll get a parole date," said Jim Hatch, a spokesman for the parole board.

Hatch said it's "highly unlikely" Jacques will be paroled immediately, given the severity of his sentence. The board's decision won't come for at least three weeks.

Smith and a network of friends hope an e-mail campaign will help sway the board to keep him locked up.

She asks people to write to justice4buddha@yahoo.com to convey their thoughts about the case.

"I want the parole board to understand that everyone is outraged by the fact he has a parole hearing. The public is livid. Everybody is feeling a lack of justice."

Darius Joseph Smith, who his family called "Buddha," would have been 10 this fall.

But the then-6-year-old boy, who'd just started school, was killed instantly by the impact of a crash that also knocked out his big brother, Desmond, and critically injured his sister.

Desmond's teeth were broken. Doctors found a fractured leg, damaged knee and a concussion when the 11-year-old boy they call "Desi" arrived at the hospital. The boy's ear was nearly torn from his head.

Buddha's dad, Earl Smith, was knocked unconscious, too. He awoke to see a little body under a sheet.

No one saw Buddha's sister, Autumn, at the accident scene that night until they heard her crying out softly for her teddy bear. The 9-year-old was wedged between the car's front tire and a chain-link fence, her face down in the dirt and her legs twisted horribly.