Tim Ryan, tryan@wolfrivermedia.com
Marlene Buettner, 67, of Cecil, died on what she and her husband, Robert, fondly referred to as a “goof day.”
It was a day for goofing off, spending time together and sharing things they enjoyed doing.
On this particular “goof day” — July 24, 2012 — they were headed home from a day of shopping in Green Bay and a dinner out.
It was also the day that Shannon M. Parker, 31, of Shawano, offered to help her father with his paper route, even though she had no license to drive and was taking pain medication for a back problem. She took her 8-year-old daughter along on the paper route.
Parker’s vehicle went through a stop sign at the intersection of County Road F and Beech Drive in the town of Hartland, striking the vehicle driven by Robert Buettner.
Marlene Buettner was pronounced dead at the scene. Robert Buettner and Parker’s daughter also sustained injuries.
On Friday, after an emotional court hearing, Parker was sentenced to 10 years in prison and another nine years of extended supervision.
“Shannon Parker devastated our family,” Buettner’s daughter Michelle told the court Friday. “Because of her selfish decision that day to get high behind the wheel of a car, my sisters and I are left without a mom … my best friend in life. And my kids and nephews are left without their favorite grandma.”
Michelle Buettner and another daughter, Kristine, asked the court to levy the maximum sentence against Parker.
“I don’t want to see this happen to another family,” Kristine said.
Robert Buettner recounted how he and Marlene had been trapped upside down in the overturned vehicle after the accident. His wife was in pain and he was unable to free her.
“It’s been almost 2½ years and yet there are nights when I go to bed that I can hear Marlene crying for help,” Buettner said. “Shannon Parker, if there’s one wish I have for you, it would be that you could hear the woman you killed crying out for help when you try and go to sleep.”
Parker’s mother, Linda Johner, asked the court not to “compound the tragedy” by taking Parker away from her daughter.
Parker’s attorney, Jane Krueger Smith, told the court Parker had not sought to get high while driving but had mismanaged her pain medication.
Toxicology reports from the state crime lab showed both marijuana and amphetamines in her system at the time of the crash, according to the criminal complaint.
In her statement to the court, Parker apologized to the Buettner family.
“I will never for one minute stop thinking about your family,” she said. “There is nothing I can do to undo the harm I caused you. I just want you to know I didn’t intend to hurt anybody. I hope and pray that someday you can find, you can forgive me in your hearts.”
Parker pleaded no contest in September to vehicular homicide while using a controlled substance, knowingly operating a vehicle without a driver’s license-causing death, two counts of causing injury while using a controlled substance, and operating a vehicle without a valid license-causing great bodily harm.
She also pleaded no contest to a felony count of bail jumping after she was found to have non-prescription morphine in her system during a random drug test while out on bond in May.