ST. PAUL, Minn. - A woman has been sentenced for killing two Mounds View High School students in a 2016 high-speed crash.
As part of a plea deal, a judge agreed that Rachel Kayl can avoid prison time by serving 10 years probation. One year from today, she will return to the Ramsey County courthouse, where a judge will then work out how she will serve one year in jail for the Dec. 1, 2016 crash on County Road 96.
Her attorney said unspecified physical and psychiatric conditions would put an "undue burden" for her to serve her sentence, so the judge ordered the review hearing to make that determination.
The 33-year-old Maple Grove woman apologized in court for causing the deaths of Mounds View High School juniors Bridget Giere and Stephanie Carlson. Their friend Samantha (Sammy) Redden was seriously injured in the crash.
Kayl said there are simply no words to convey the guilt she feels.
"Parents should never have to bury their own children," she said. "I think about the girls and the lives they will never lead and the terrible holes left by their deaths. I struggle every day and wonder why I am here and they are not."
Redden, the sole survivor of the crash, also gave a victim impact statement at the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, saying she still remembers what her friends' hugs feel like and that what happened to them is "simply unfair." She said she'll always be known as the girl who survived.
"I hate that I didn't get to say goodbye," she said. "I will always be haunted by the guilt I feel, the pain I feel in my hips and shoulders ... all of this will always be surreal to me and will never make sense. And to me, justice will never be served."
Families of the girls who were killed also addressed Kayl, describing the pain they have suffered since losing their children far too soon.
"The last thing I said to her was, 'have a good day, I love you,'" Bridget's mother, Mary Lee Giere, said through tears. "Little did I know these would be the last words I would speak to her while she was alive."
Giere spoke about not being able to watch Bridget go to prom and attending what would've been her daughter's graduation, where she was honored and remembered instead of handed a diploma.
"She never got the chance to fall in love and we will never get the chance to walk her down the aisle for her wedding or hold her babies," Giere said.
Stephanie's father, Steven Carlson, spoke about Stephanie's siblings and how her death has affected them so "profoundly."
"I see them burying their pain and grief in silence and anger," he said. "They don't understand why their precious sister had to die like this. None of them are here today. They don't want to be here. None of them want to see or even acknowledge the person who killed their sister."
Carlson said he understands and completely relates to his children's decision to stay home.
"I don't want to be here either," he said. "This courtroom today is a room filled with sorrow, anger and pain -- indescribable, unending pain."
Carlson described his daughter as a young girl filled with joy and laughter, who loved cats, running and astronomy.
He then addressed Kayl, saying he's never seen any sorrow or remorse from her for the pain she caused or heard "anything even close to an apology."
"I hope she doesn't insult our families today with a self-serving, meaningless apology," Carlson said. "It is much too late."
Kayl could be seen sobbing during Carlson's remarks.
Reconstruction experts with the Minnesota State Patrol determined that Kayl's Chevy Trailblazer was going 77 to 85 mph when she hit the compact SUV driven by the teens. The speed limit on that stretch of County Road 96 is just 50 mph. Kayl admitted in court that she was driving at more than 80 mph to get to her job as a nanny.
She is due back in court on Nov. 29, 2019 for a review hearing where the judge will determine how she will serve her sentence.
The judge ordered Kayl to turn herself in on Dec. 2, 2019.