HARLEM, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – Lifelong lovers Clayton and Shirley Morris were rarely apart.

The couple was sitting next to each other They were hit by a tractor trailer almost two years ago.

News 12 investigation first The day it claimed not one but two lives revealed that the driver should never have gotten behind the wheel.

On Monday, Christina Richardson was in a Columbia County courtroom to learn her fate, and your I-TEAM was there, too.

Richardson faces several years on a string of charges, including two counts of vehicular homicide, but will not spend a day behind bars.

Because the family asked the judge to keep him out of prison.

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Shirley Morris loved Christmas and this will be the 3rd Christmas her family will spend without her and Clayton.

The family, which loves to give gifts, gave a priceless gift to the woman who killed both of them in court on Monday.

They asked Judge Barry Flemming not to give Richardson a prison sentence.

“She’s a mother, and I don’t think any child should ever know that their mother is in prison,” said their daughter, Cathy Morris Thurmond.

They also believe that prison time cannot bring back Shirley or Clayton, but they have made one important request.

In lieu of prison time, they asked the judge to make sure Richardson would no longer drive commercially.

The judge can’t ban it indefinitely, but he can make it a provision of the woman’s 3-year probation, and he did.

“We felt like the most important thing we wanted was for him to never be able to drive again, because we didn’t want anyone else to go through what we went through with him behind the wheel,” Daniel said. Morris is their son. “We realized it was an accident, but we also realized that maybe it could have been prevented.”

Averted – after I-TEAM investigation uncovered Richardson’s driving record.

He was charged in 2022 with vehicular homicide, following too closely, driving with an expired license, driving without a license and driving without a license.

But just a few months ago, he was fined for driving an unlicensed vehicle and using his phone while driving.

ANOTHER I-TEAM INVESTIGATION:

I-TEAM found that his social media accounts also reflected him using his phone while driving.

He also called his truck a neckbreaker.

And then there are the tickets, at least 12 we could find, seven for speeding.

“If you’re not paying attention to what you’re doing and you’re going to drive a big truck like that, you need to respect the road,” Daniel said. “Respect what you do, respect others and stop this from happening because it just destroys families.”

However, his family chooses to forgive.

Even though their loved ones can’t be around the tree this Christmas, Richardson’s children will be able to spend the holiday with their mother.

Richardson pleaded guilty to second-degree vehicular homicide while being pursued too closely.

He could have been sentenced to several years in prison.

The Morris family told me today that their parents would be proud of them.

They were raised to love and forgive, and that’s exactly what they did.

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