our view

T

he sentencing Friday of the man who shot and killed Aidan Ellison closed the book on a trial.

It did not — it should not — close the book on a tragedy.

Robert Keegan will spend nine and a half more years behind bars after being found guilty of first-degree manslaughter and two other charges in the 2020 death of Ellison during a late-night confrontation in the parking lot of an Ashland inn.

Despite the calls from those who had wanted a stronger sentence from the judge or a more serious charge imposed by the jury, Keegan will be released from jail in 2033 and placed under five years of post-prison supervision — meaning that, as it stands, his debt to society would be paid after 17 years.

Two fewer years than Aidan Ellison lived.

Standing before Judge Timothy Barnack as he awaited his sentence, Keegan — who had testified that he had “no other choice but to pull the trigger” during the night of Ellison’s death — offered the simplest expression of regret.

“There’s nothing more I can say, but I’m sorry.”

It’s tempting, and easy, to weigh the end of the criminal case on the scales of justice.

We live in a hot-take world, conditioned through the speed of communication to decide — instantly — whether a decision was right or wrong; whether a sentence was long enough; whether what happened in an Ashland parking lot is a microcosm of society’s racial ills.

Making such snap judgments closes a book as well. We allow ourselves to come to a set of conclusions, in part, to protect us from having to think too deeply about the pain in anything beyond general terms.

We then act accordingly on those decisions in ways that we have seen the aftermaths of such tragedies played out far too often across the country. That we have subconsciously learned how to react, how to feel, in these moments is in and of itself tragic.

Our sympathy for Ellison’s family and friends is real, tangible in the way that shared grief feels. We have asked all the “What if …” questions and wished all the “If only …” scenarios that might have prevented that singular moment from occurring.

There is an intrinsic right, a moral need, to speak out when we believe we have witnessed an injustice. Those attending a rally in Ashland before sentencing spoke from the heart when addressing the verdict, the loss of a young life, and the racial aspect of the case — asking how the jury could not return a guilty verdict on a murder charge, and wondering what would have happened if a Black 19-year-old had shot and killed a 50-year-old white man.

“Criminal homicide constitutes manslaughter in the first degree,” according to Oregon public law, “when it is committed recklessly under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to the value of human life.”

Robert Keegan will be jailed, then under supervision, for another 14-plus years. Aidan Ellison is never coming back.

Sometimes, we make our peace with justice; and, sometimes, justice just is.