BONNERS FERRY — Instead of spending time in jail for vehicular manslaughter, a Bonners Ferry man will be required to talk to driver’s education classes about the dangers of distracted driving.

The sentence came following emotional pleas for mercy from the parents of Joshua Wilkerson, who was killed Aug. 13, 2013, after Keith D. Anderson rear-ended his car, sending him into oncoming traffic.

“Life is a gift,” Wanda Wilkerson told Anderson in a victim’s impact statement during Tuesday’s sentencing hearing. “Josh’s life was a gift that touched all of us on many levels and some deeply.”

“Please realize that your life is a gift. Live the remainder of your life well, Keith. Please make something positive out of this tragedy, something that may spare others from going through the guilt you are going through, and the sorrow you are enduring. It is my hope that you will at some point be able to forgive yourself for what’s happened... I also want to thank you for accepting responsibility for this accident.”

The plea was heard by Judge Justin Julian, who told those gathered that he became a judge to put bad people who have deliberately hurt someone behind bars. This case was different, with no bad person to punish.

“The roles of sentencing, which are punishment of the defendant, protection of society and reinforcing the seriousness of the crime... don’t really fit this case very well,” he said, “because I don’t have the bad person sitting in front of me to punish. I have a situation that needs to be addressed.”

For the rest of the story, read the Bonners Ferry Herald's print edition.