AUSTIN — Eric Skeeter will soon walk out of an Austin jail. Because of a plea agreement, he will only serve 10 years' probation for beating and killing Nikolas Evans outside a bar on 6th Street.
Missy Evans, the victim's mother, is going through a roller coaster of emotions.
There is anger over the sentence. She said she hoped the judge would at least give her son's killer a harsher penalty, since he had a criminal history.
"I thought for sure some kind of stipulation besides community service and restitution," Evans said. "I thought for sure extra jail time, because he's on parole now."
While disappointed, Evans said it's time to move forward with her plans to become a grandmother using her son's sperm.
In April, she successfully got a doctor to collect Nickolas' sperm, postmortem.
"We're using an anonymous egg donor and his sperm, and we'll try until we get it," she said. Evans said hundreds of women volunteered to help her dream come true, and a surrogate will carry the fertilized egg.
Some have criticized her decision, but Evans said her son talked frequently about wanting three boys.
"I think it helps me and my other son and my family, too — to know this is a huge possibility for us, and to keep him forever," she said.
Evans said she has fought a hard legal battle to make this possible; now she wants to help pass legislation that will make it easier for other families to do the same.
"So those mothers who lose their sons to war might be able to have this possibility without so much red tape," she said.
Evans knows what she is doing is unusual, but said it's what her son would have wanted.
And the hope that she will soon be a grandmother keeps her going.
E-mail rlopez@wfaa.com
