Madelyn Howard gets 10-year sentence for drunk driving crash that killed Nate Stratton

Elizabeth Stratton brought a leather backpack to court Monday. Inside was a box containing the ashes of her 20-year-old son's cremated body and a child-sized quilt made from blocks of fabric cut from his clothes. Brad Stratton wore a pair of his dead son's socks.

"We did our job, to represent Nate," the father said. "He would have been proud of the Stratton family today."

He spoke outside the courtroom after Monroe Circuit Judge Darcie Fawcett sentenced 24-year-old Madelyn Howard of Crown Point to a 10-year prison sentence followed by two years on probation. Inmates in Indiana are required to served 75% of their sentence, reducing Howard's time behind bars to seven-and-a-half years.

Howard pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and causing death while operating a vehicle while intoxicated. Indiana law incorporates the second charge into the first for sentencing purposes. The range of penalty for the Level 3 felony is three to 16 years, with an advisory nine-year term.

A February plea agreement dismissed two other charges: reckless homicide and causing death when operating a motor vehicle with a blood-alcohol content of .08% or more.

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Witness: 'It happened so fast'

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Jeff Kehr called Dustin Bowman as a witness to describe what he saw and heard while sitting on his porch about 100 feet from the accident site. "There was a very loud crashing sound ... like someone throwing a chair through a window," he said. Bowman ran to Stratton as his girlfriend called 911. They stayed with Stratton, who had sustained serious head injuries, until help arrived.

"It happened so fast, just like that," he said, snapping his fingers. "Then the car was driving away. It just drove away. There were no brake lights, nothing. The car just kept on driving."

Kehr showed security camera footage of the car leaving the scene, sparks flying out from the scooter lodged under it dragging on the street. Howard and her car were located a few blocks away 10 minutes after the wreck.

Kehr also entered into evidence a picture of where Stratton's body landed, a wide stream of blood flowing along the curb. Brad Stratton said that when he went to the crash site the next day, his son's blood was still there on the pavement.

Judge cites aggravating factors in Howard sentencing

Fawcett handed down the 12-year sentence after citing several aggravating factors: Howard's high blood-alcohol level, more than three times the legal limit; the high rate of speed she was driving and her veering off the roadway before striking Stratton, a 20-year-old business school student.

Stratton died a few hours after the Sept. 18, 2022, accident near 12th and Walnut streets. During Monday's all-day sentencing hearing, the victim's father removed his glasses to wipe tears from his eyes as he testified, describing how he broke down and fell to the floor when an IU Health Bloomington Hospital doctor called to say his son had died.

Stratton would have graduated from Indiana University on May 5. "Nate was a kind and caring soul," his father told Fawcett. "I am begging you to send a message: do not drink and drive. She (Howard) is a grown woman who made her own choices. We want this sentence to honor our son."

The Stratton family offered the defendant no sympathy. "Madelyn Howard made the decision to drive drunk and leave my brother in the street to die," Abby Stratton said from the witness stand. "Our life sentence of grief doesn't end."

Her sister, Cecelia Stratton, said her brother had been her best friend and soul mate. "I thought I'd always have him in my corner," she said, glaring angrily at Howard. "I will undoubtedly despise you to the day I take my last breath. You killed my brother."

Elizabeth Stratton read a letter she wrote to put into a school time capsule in 2008 when her son was in kindergarten. "I wonder what path you will choose to follow," she wrote, hoping he would find happiness, confidence and be compassionate toward others. "I can't wait to see who you become."

She told Howard that as she spent the 597 days since the accident "living in the comfort of your parents' home, we have had 597 days and nights of sheer agony. Our lifetime of sadness is all because of you. Nate should have walked at graduation two days ago. It is finally time for you to face punishment for killing my Nate."

Defense: Howard 'profoundly remorseful'

Defense witnesses, from Howard's parish priest to a neuropsychologist, testified on Howard's behalf. Attorney Katharine Liell said trauma and guilt after the accident "have broken Madelyn."

She asked for a shorter sentence. "A courtroom is not the place for 'an eye for an eye.' She (Howard) is profoundly remorseful and has chronic PTSD."

She said the accident that killed Stratton resulted from "a single night of misjudgment" and that Howard is "consumed with grief and remorse." She called the accident "an isolated event that led to catastrophic consequences" and told Judge Fawcett "the pursuit of justice cannot to be based in vengeance."

Howard: 'I will never excuse my actions'

Before being sentenced, Howard read a statement apologizing to the Strattons, saying her remorse never goes away. She asked for mercy for "this terrible act I've committed," pulling tissues from a box as tears flowed down her face. "I will never excuse my actions that night. Nathaniel is always in my heart, on my mind, in my prayers."

After Fawcett announced the sentence, Howard's body shook and she wept. She unclasped her silver cross necklace and removed her earrings, placing them on the defense table. Three jail guards escorted her from the courtroom, drew her hands behind her back and put metal cuffs on her wrists.

Contact H-T reporter Laura Lane at llane@heraldt.com or 812-318-5967.

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This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Judge sentences Madelyn Howard to 10 years in fatal drunk driving case