The man who fatally struck 16-year-old Columbus East High School student Lily Streeval with his car the morning of Sept. 15, 2021, and drove on will serve four years in prison. Shiam Sunder Shankara Subramanian, 26, was sentenced last week by Bartholomew Circuit Judge Kelly Benjamin.
Lily Streeval’s life was irreplaceable. Her family, friends and loved ones have our sympathy, and they always will. Lily, described as funny and lively, had a bright future that was cut short.
As The Republic’s Mark Webber reported, Streeval’s father, Mark Streeval, described his daughter as his best friend. “When Lily died, I died internally,” the father wrote to the court.
Subramanian was convicted of leaving the scene of an accident resulting in death, a Level 4 felony, as well as passing a school bus while the arm signal is extended causing death, a Level 5 felony.
Subramanian could have received a sentence of up to 18 years in prison under the law. His four-year executed sentence led to outrage on social media, where numerous people decried it as too lenient.
Yet every criminal case is unique, and every defendant judged on the evidence before the court and the circumstances of each case. The law simply gives judges sentencing ranges for categories of offenses.
Our votes entrust judges with the discretion to impose sentences based on the law and the facts and circumstances of individual cases.
And here, infuriating or unjust as it may feel to some, the sentence appears proper.
Nevertheless, at sentencing, Benjamin seemed to anticipate the outrage that would accompany her judgment in this case.
As Webber reported, Benjamin admonished social media users “for making extremely harsh judgments and advocating a maximum sentence. The judge, who said she read hundreds of comments concerning the case, said no social media commentator attended September’s trial nor were in the courtroom (at Subramanian’s sentencing).
“He is not an evil person as they have made him out to be,” Benjamin said. “(The defendant) did not intentionally kill Lily.”
Subramanian showed remorse. He had no criminal history. He had letters of support from more than 30 people. “I want the Streeval family to know I am extremely remorseful. It was a tragic mistake,” he said at sentencing.
The mitigating circumstances outweighed the aggravating circumstances in Subramanian’s case. Benjamin was duty-bound to sentence him accordingly.
Four years in prison may seem like a pittance, but it isn’t. It’s a defensible sentence that we trust Benjamin reached after weighing the evidence and the circumstances, and finding the facts, including comparable sentences for similar crimes.
That said, we also understand those who believe a lengthier sentence was warranted in this case. If they strongly believe that, they should tell their lawmakers in the Statehouse and urge them to reclassify offenses such as this as a Level 3 or even a Level 2 felony offense. Doing so would automatically increase minimum sentences in any future convictions, and the debate would raise awareness of the seriousness of cases such as this.
A sense of justice, especially in sentencing, is elusive in these cases. That’s because above all, these cases are, and always will be, tragedies.
