Dear Friends and Community:
It has been a grueling two and a half years since our 16-year old son, Aiden Tai Gossage, was killed. Our family has attended every court hearing, including the Preliminary Hearing, where the prosecution played a video (that police found from a neighbor's security camera) of Aiden's death the night of September 4, 2021. We saw our child being hit by a speeding car; his body wedged on the top of the car's hood while the driver skidded over 160 feet with our child on the hood of his car—and upon coming to a stop, our child was thrown another 30 feet. We saw photos of our deceased child on the street.
Aiden's autopsy was the most horrific thing that we have ever seen; nearly every bone in his body was broken, nearly all of his organs were lacerated. He was killed in the most sudden and violent way. My heart is completely broken—I will never heal from the loss of my child.
There was sufficient evidence to take this case of felony vehicular homicide with gross negligence to trial. Instead, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office offered Kevin Chris Dahl a plea deal: 6 months in county jail, followed by 30 days of Caltrans trash pickup. This is an appallingly light and meaningless sentence. It does not offer rehabilitation to the Dahl. It does not serve the purpose of justice for Aiden. What it does is send a frightful message to the People—that human life is worth nothing.
We have written this letter to Judge Sean Coen, expressing our objection to the plea deal's light sentence. Please help us by signing in support. Please share this link to others:
https://www.change.org/JusticeForAidenTaiGossage
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