Three young men apologized to their victim on Thursday after a judge sentenced them to time behind bars for throwing a rock from an interstate overpass, striking the woman in the head and causing her severe brain damage.
A Pennsylvania judge ordered Dylan Lahr, 18, Tyler Porter, 19, and Keefer McGee, 18, to serve at least 4½ years, 1 year and 10 months, and 11½ months respectively for the July 2014 attack on Interstate 80 near New Columbia that injured Sharon Budd.
'I thought the judge would be just, and he was,' said Budd, a middle school language arts teacher from Uniontown, Ohio, after the hearing. 'It's hard to look at their faces and not feel bad for them.'
The minimum sentences are the earliest they could be released from county jail or state prison. All three have much longer maximum sentences and will be on probation for many years.
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Three teenagers were sentenced to between 11 and a half months and 4 and a half years of minimum incarceration time for throwing a rock from an overpass that gave Sharon Budd (center) severe brain damage. Above, Budd and her husband Randy leave Union County Court House on Thursday after the sentencing
Tyler Porter (left) Keefer McGee (center) and Dylan Lahr (in orange jumpsuit) all pleaded guilty or no contest to a number of charges after a day of havoc including driving through a cornfield and breaking a window
They also were ordered to pay restitution.
Lahr who was given credit for spending the past year behind bars, was shackled around the waist as he asked Budd directly for forgiveness.
He was the one accused of throwing the rock onto the car, according to the Times Reporter.
'I'm sorry, Sharon,' Lahr said. 'I feel horrible for what has happened and for what you and your family had to go through.'
Porter said he was sorry and that he wished every day the attack had not occurred.
McGee, who drove the vehicle that carried the boys, drew a response from Union County District Attorney Pete Johnson when he told Budd: 'I shouldn't have let my friends do what they did.'
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McGee (center) was said to be the driver of the car the boys rode around in before the July 2014 incident. Dylan Lahr (right) was accused of being the one who threw the rock from the overpass. Left, Porter
The Budds were being driven to New York by their daughter Kaylee to see a Broadway show when the attack took place on Interstate 80. Above, Budd in October wearing a #BuddStrong t-shirt
'Calling these things bad choices or mistakes, I think, demeans what it is, which is the expression of criminal intent, the criminal choice,' Johnson told Judge Michael Sholley. 'And that deserves punishment.'
Budd and her husband were passengers as their daughter Kaylee drove them through Pennsylvania, on Interstate 80 en route to see a show in New York, when the attack occurred.
Her husband, Randy, called the injuries 'a lifelong sentence for Sharon.'
'We have four children,' Randy Budd told Sholley. 'They always went to Sharon. Now they come to me. Sharon always took care of them. Now they take care of Sharon.'
Budd, who is also a breast cancer survivor, has already undergone seven surgeries after the rock that crashed through the front windshield of her car destroyed much of her skull, part of her brain and one eye.
Budd was a school teacher but has not been able to return to her profession since the incident, after which doctors had to piece together parts of her skull that had been smashed by the rock
Above, a scan shows how Mrs Budd's skull was shattered after she wassuddenly hit by the massive rock
Doctors used a piece of skull to create a bridge between her eyes and removed part of the intact parts of her skull to account for swelling.
She has not yet been able to return to teaching.
A fourth man, Dylan's brother Brett Lahr, 20, previously began serving at least 18 months after pleading no contest to a conspiracy count.
Porter pleaded no contest to conspiracy to commit aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury.
Dylan Lahr pleaded guilty to trespassing, agricultural vandalism and two counts of aggravated assault.
McGee pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.
'It feels like a result that is appropriate,' Johnson, the prosecutor, said afterward. 'I can't say, when you're done with this kind of thing, that anything feels like justice.'
Randy Budd called the injuries 'a lifelong sentence for Sharon.' Above, Budd's son Luke was preparing to ship out to Afghanistan before the attack
The boys' minimum sentences do not necessarily determine when they will get out of prison or jail, with much longer maximum sentences possible. Above, Budd and her daughter Kaylee in October
Authorities say the rock-throwing culminated a day of troublemaking that included shoplifting steaks, breaking a window in a neighbor's home and driving through a cornfield, causing damage.
A truck driver also reported damage from a rock in that spot around the same time.
Dylan Lahr and Porter will serve their sentences in state prison, where Brett Lahr is incarcerated.
McGee was allowed work release while serving his time in the county jail and will be released eight hours a day to work, though he will pay $250 a month in restitution, according to the Daily Item.
Sharon said after the hearing, 'Randy and I are both glad this part is wrapped up.'
Randy Budd said he has begun a campaign to increase safety fencing on interstate overpasses.
He has proposed a law tentatively titled the Budd Bridge Barrier Law, where new and replacement bridges would be mandated to have protective fencing.
The law would also apply to bridges with multiple rock-throwing incidents.
Randy Budd said he has begun a campaign to increase safety fencing on interstate overpasses and proposed a law where new and replacement bridges would be mandated to have protective fencing.
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