GREENFIELD — A Vermont man convicted of causing the crash that severely injured a Rhode Island family in 2023 was sentenced to 4½ years in jail on Tuesday following emotional impact statements from the victims.

Javery Hattat, 33, of Bennington, Vermont, will be on probation for three years after serving his time at the Franklin County Jail and House of Correction in Greenfield. A jury last month convicted Hattat on one count of negligent operation of a motor vehicle, four counts of reckless assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and one count of possession of a Class B substance (cocaine) following a week-long trial.

Franklin County Superior Court Judge Tracy Duncan imposed the sentences Tuesday after hearing statements written by the four members of the Sojkowski family as well as the affected children’s aunt and a family friend.

“I truly sense the pain that this family has gone through,” Duncan said.

Stephanie Sojkowski said no words can accurately describe the torment her family has been through over the past two years and that Hattat’s actions “cannot be undone.”

Hattat was behind the wheel of a Toyota Tacoma on March 12, 2023, when he swerved into the oncoming lane of traffic near Longview Tower on Route 2 in Greenfield, slamming into a Nissan Armada carrying the Sojkowski family. The collision hospitalized Stephanie, her husband Steve and their two children. They were returning home to Westerly, Rhode Island, from a Berkshire East Mountain Resort ski trip in Charlemont when they were struck. The parents suffered various severe, life-altering injuries, including a broken nose, femur, knee cap, ribs, pelvis and sacrum, while the children received comparatively less significant injuries.

When questioned by police at Baystate Franklin Medical Center following the crash, Hattat told officers he fell asleep after being up all night ingesting cocaine, but that he had stopped so as to not drive impaired. He also admitted to smoking marijuana about an hour before his drive to “stay awake” and to having a prescription for Suboxone.

Stephanie Sojkowski said Hattat will never be able to understand the magnitude of the suffering he caused. She also said she dreads becoming known as the family involved in a devastating accident.

“We want to simply be the Sojkowskis,” she told Duncan.

Assistant District Attorney Aidan Lanciani, who prosecuted the case alongside First Assistant District Attorney Steven Gagne, read impact statements from the two children and a family friend.

Jeffrey Sojkowski, who was 12 at the time of the crash, recounted the day that changed his life forever.

“I remember waking up to people I didn’t know asking if I was OK,” he wrote, referring to good Samaritans who stopped to assist on scene.

The boy became emotional hearing his words and was comforted by his sister, his mother, his aunt and a man sitting behind him.

“When I saw my mom [in the hospital], I was scared because she didn’t look anything like my mom,” Jeffrey wrote.

Maya Sojkowski, who was 9 when the crash happened, wrote that she and her brother were looking forward to stopping for food at the McDonald’s near the Interstate 91 rotary before continuing home. She also recalled how scared she was in the ambulance after having seen her parents unconscious in the front seats, with their heads drooped.

“I thought my parents were dead,” Maya wrote. “When my parents asked what I wanted to say to [Hattat], I only wanted to say two words, but I’m not allowed to say those words.”

While delivering his impact statement, Steve Sojkowski fought back tears as he described no longer being physically able to play with his children. He made reference to a metaphor defense attorney R. David DeHerdt made while speaking to the jury during closing arguments. DeHerdt had compared the jurors’ responsibility to baking a cake, describing the law as the recipe, the facts as the ingredients and burden of proof as the measuring cup. Sojkowski detailed the physical agony he faces every day and how he can no longer throw a baseball.

“How’s that measuring cup looking now?” he asked rhetorically.

Gagne then addressed Duncan and asked for a sentence of seven to eight years in state prison.

“I would say the strength and resilience demonstrated by the Sojkowski family is astonishing,” Gagne said in a phone interview. “I hope that the defendant’s conviction and sentencing provides them some measure of justice and healing as they continue down the long road of recovery.”

Hattat spoke briefly and apologized to the Sojkowski family for the physical and emotional pain he had inflicted.

“I hope that one day you will find it in your heart to forgive me,” he said.

His sentence includes 100 hours of community service as well as substance abuse counseling, random drug screenings and no driving unless he has been cleared to do so by a neurologist. DeHerdt unsuccessfully argued at trial that the crash was caused by Hattat — who had no cocaine or marijuana in his system when his blood was drawn at the hospital — having a seizure, possibly due to a 2014 traumatic brain injury.

Reach Domenic Poli at: dpoli@recorder.com or
413-93-4120.