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It was an emotional day in court at a bond hearing Sunday for a Florence man accused of driving drunk and killing three people.
Family members from both sides were in tears: the mother who lost two children and a boyfriend and the family of a man who police say is responsible for their deaths.
At the hearing, Bernadette Robinson, the victims' mother, asked the judge to deny bond to 31-year-old Phillip Roland Marshall of Florence.
"There's a first time for everything. You can't get away with it just because it's your first time. Your first time was the biggest mess up," Robinson said.
Highway Patrol says Marshall was driving drunk in the early morning hours Saturday and killed two of Robinson's children, and her boyfriend.
Sunday, she reminisced about her four-year-old son, Jamahl. "If he'd see me down, he's probably the only child that'd come and Ma, you alright? Ma, you alright?"
She talked about her nine-year-old daughter Shajasia. "Every night before she'd go to bed, she'd come in that room and hug me and say "Ma, I love you," and go back to her room."
And she talked about her boyfriend, 55-year-old Armenis Cato, Jr. "Everything we did with the kids, we always did it together, so I love him, and I will miss him too."
Three people died in the wreck, but Robinson said many lives were ruined.
She'll never get over losing her family.
And Marshall's face in the bond hearing today showed he might have a hard time getting over it too.
Robinson hopes this case serves as a lesson, before more innocent people get hurt.
"Signs are all everywhere, commercials everywhere telling you don't drink and drive, so why are you out there drinking and driving? Don't drink and drive! How many times it need to be said?"she said.
Police are not saying yet what Marshall's blood alcohol level was at the time of the accident.
The judge set Marshall's bond at $65,000. If Marshall is able to post that, he could be free until his court date.
The funerals for the two Robinson children and Cato will be at the end of the week.
