LEHI, Utah — The State of Utah v. John Jeffery Williams hearing took place Wednesday afternoon in the Fourth Judicial District Court, where Williams pleaded guilty to murder by assault and impaired driving.

Parties reach agreement after road rage incident in Lehi took place at the beginning of June. And it led to the death of 38-year-old Michael Brown. It was such an emotional day for the Brown family, there was not a dry eye in the courtroom.

“With his uncontrollable anger and hatred, his inability to breathe and his inability to continue driving, Mr. Williams forever changed the course of this beautiful family’s life,” said Lynn Mortensen, Brown’s father-in-law.

Brown and his two sons, ages nine and 10, were on their way to meet their mother when a road rage incident changed everything.

“We lost Michael in a traumatic way, you never think your family member would be killed in such a brutal way,” sister-in-law Cyndi Brown said.

The family, especially the two sons, is dealing with trauma.

“He killed my husband. In front of my children, and he only had to serve 26 days in jail. When Mr. Williams was arrested, he was not charged, but when he was arrested for aggravated assault with bodily injury, that would have been a secondary offense against Michael. Michael Brown’s Wife, Mandi Brown, said, “The third charge was He fell to murder by assault, which is a degree of fraud.

Wednesday’s hearing included testimony from three family members. “The only reason the family decided to accept the plea deal was to protect the children from trauma,” Cindi Brown said.

The parties reached a five-year agreement on zero-tolerance probation. “He couldn’t break any laws, otherwise he would have reverted to the full effect of the sentence. It also ensured that the children did not have to testify that the restitution was a significant amount that he could pay very quickly,” Brandon Merrill said. , Utah Homicide Survivors’ Advocate. The compensation amount is approximately $213,000.

Mandi Brown, Michael’s wife and mother of his children, emphasized that all they wanted to do was protect their son from harm. “What they were forced to witness took away their innocence and introduced them to a darkness that my husband and I worked so hard to protect from,” Mandi Brown said.

At the hearing, Michael’s father-in-law read letters written by his grandchildren:

“I see the whole fight in my mind, I see it in great detail my father lying unconscious on the road with blood everywhere. We won’t be able to spend birthdays with our father anymore, his favorite day was Christmas and that will be the day too,” Brown’s Father-in-Law Lynn Mortensen said. “We can’t go on, we can’t watch movies with him, we can’t play Lego with him, he can’t sit in the stands and watch us,” he said.

The family tells FOX 13 the devastation and heartbreak is immeasurable. “We’ll miss him at Thanksgiving. We miss him at Christmas. We miss him at the boys’ birthday and we miss him every day,” Cindi Brown said.