Cheri Duman caught her tears with a tissue in Adams County court Monday, as the motorist who killed her husband read a note he wrote to her.
“In a flash of a moment, my life changed before my eyes,” said Robbie Lee Ridinger, also choking back tears. “I would give anything, do anything to change that moment.”
The 23-year-old Littlestown man admitted he was driving drunk at about 6:45 a.m. May 29, when he failed to handle a sharp curve in the 1600 block of Bullfrog Road in Freedom Township. He admitted he was speeding when he struck and killed 54-year-old Joe Duman Jr.
His attorney, Justin McShane, of Harrisburg law firm McShane and Hitchings, said Ridinger has always shown remorse. And McShane stood by the young man as he pleaded guilty to charges of homicide by vehicle, driving under the influence and recklessly endangering the girl he was with that morning.
Ridinger said he wanted to contact and console Cheri Duman immediately after the crash. But McShane said he advised Ridinger against contacting her because he feared she might feel threatened.
When it came time to sentence Ridinger, McShane pointed to the left side of the courtroom, and said almost everyone seated on that side was there to support Ridinger and asked them all to stand.
Thirteen people – friends and family of Ridinger and his girlfriend – stood up; two wanted to testify on Ridinger’s behalf.
Sabrena Meyerhoff, a friend of Ridinger’s for three years, said she knows Ridinger has found it hard to live with himself since the crash.
She said he has continued to be a caring and loving person – someone she could call for help at midnight when one of her goats was having a difficult birth.
“He’s like a little brother to me,” she said.
“He’s very respectful. And in a young man that age, it’s hard to find.”
The Rev. Jerry Stoltzfoos, of Freedom Valley Worship Center, said he’s known Ridinger for a year and a half, and started giving him spiritual guidance after the crash.
“He has a contrite heart,” Stoltzfoos said. “He’s doing what little he can to right a very wrong incident in his life.”
Ridinger cried and read to Cheri Duman, “Please understand I know the significance of your loss.
“If there was some way I could make it up to you, I would.”
He promised to dedicate the rest of his life to Joe Duman’s memory.
After hearing the testimony, Judge Michael George turned to Cheri Duman and asked her to accept his sympathy.
“I know your loss is devastating,” George said.
George said he knows “vengeance calls for a sentence of life,” but there’s a need to balance the loss of one life with the potential harm of another.
To Ridinger, George said, “I wish we could put your remorse in a bottle.”
Ridinger accepted a plea agreement that requires him to spend 9 1/2 years in the county’s Intermediate Punishment Program, with the first four years at Adams County prison and the remaining time on probation. Ridinger would also lose his driver’s license for three years – in addition to a one-year suspension mandated by the state Department of Transportation.
If Ridinger is caught driving drunk again he will go to a state prison, George said.
George ordered Ridinger to pay $11,828.28 in restitution – $7,844.80 to Cheri Duman and $3,983.48 to Liberty Mutual Insurance – and $1,300 in fines.
George also ordered Ridinger to perform 122 hours of public service at the Duman residence, helping to maintain the property, if Cheri Duman agreed.
“I know the public service portion may become uncomfortable to you. It might be uncomfortable to the victim,” George said.
“But by you realizing who you hurt, and by the victim realizing you are not necessarily an evil person but a person who made a mistake, you might help with the healing process.”
Still, George said, he will leave the decision to Cheri Duman.
With that, Ridinger was escorted out of the courtroom to exchange his khakis and button-down shirt for an orange jumpsuit.
This morning, Cheri Duman didn’t know how she feels about having Ridinger come to her home for public service.
“I guess I’ve got four years to think about it,” she said. “In a way, I think it would be a good thing.”
Most of all, she’s glad the court proceedings are over and thinks the sentence Ridinger received is fair.
And she said she finally got what she’s been waiting for: “I got my apology.”
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