Robert Michael Smith Jr. entered a guilty plea in Delaware County Court yesterday.

A tearful Smith admitted he was drunk
behind the wheel when the car he was driving slammed into another vehicle carrying a group of Ridley teens, all classmates at Ridley High.

Smith could face as much as 26 year in jail when he is sentenced in September.

Steve Jewell could only wish for such a sentence.

Robert Smith walked into the Media Courthouse yesterday. And he walked out. He will walk back in again on Sept. 22 for his sentencing.

Jewell only wishes he could do the same.

Jewell was in the car that Smith plowed into on that fateful night. He is paralyzed from the waist down. After long weeks of rehab, Smith remains in a wheelchair.

That’s how he got to his graduation from Ridley High. It’s how he joined his friends at Senior Week festivities.

It is likely how he will get everywhere the rest of his life.

Robert Smith will be sentenced on Sept. 22.

Steve Jewell has already been sentenced, to a life in a wheelchair.

Jewell was not in the courtoom yesterday, but his stepfather was.

“It’s a hard life for Steve now,” Peter Sacco said. “The whole thing is sad.”

Two young lives changed forever.

Sacco’s right. It’s just unbelievable sad.