“[SBM]
Jennifer Weathers, 50, was charged with DUI and reckless endangerment in October, one month after her daughter, 27-year-old Meighan Cordie, of Salem, was found dead down an embankment along Highway 18.
‘It was a terrible tragic night and one that I wished never happened,’ Weathers said after pleading guilty to DUI.
A Yamhill County deputy handcuffed her and led her away to begin serving her 120-hour jail sentence.
Weathers initially reported Cordie missing the morning after the pair attended a wedding in the rural community of Grand Island with Cordie's 3-year-old daughter Gia.
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A friend of Peggy Holland, Gia's paternal grandmother, read a statement aloud in court about the grief she, her son and Gia have endured in the wake of Cordie's death.
Her granddaughter, who was once a happy, carefree toddler living with two parents, until ‘everything went terribly wrong.’
She was now living with her dad as her sole caregiver, undergoing counseling and slowly remembering more details from the night her mother died.
She recounted Gia waking up from nightmares screaming for her mother.
‘She should be in her mom's arms, not mine,’ Holland said.
She said Cordie was beautiful and kind.
‘She was a loving, nurturing mother who will never get to see her daughter grow up,’ Holland said.
Weathers' attorney Walter Todd said his client was taking accountability for her actions and clarified that she was being charged with DUI, not with her daughter's death.
Cordie was an adult, who, while intoxicated, willingly jumped out a vehicle and died immediately, he said.
As part of the terms of her probation, Weathers is forbidden to have any contact with Gia.
Before being sentenced, Weather said she had helped raise Gia from the day Cordie delivered her.
‘I miss them both very much, and I'm very sorry,’ she said.
Yamhill County Judge Cynthia Easterday said DUI is a serious crime that can easily escalate into manslaughter. Weathers' sentence was harsher than typical for a first time offender.
Easterday said she hoped Weathers was sorry, but wasn't sure if she was.
‘I am,’ Weathers said. ‘I really am.’” (BBM)
Meighan Cordie's mother goes to jail for driving drunk the night her daughter died
This defense attorney ... (I’m speechless).