The merciful parents of a promising Brooklyn man mowed down by a boozed-up driver asked his killer Thursday to honor their son's legacy by teaching students about the perils of drunken driving.
Michael Ortiz, 22, pleaded guilty to vehicular manslaughter and DWI in the 2008 death of Fred Malcolm McCormack, accepting a unique no-jail deal that requires him to speak at 100 high schools.
"Don't let us down," Fred McCormack Sr. told Ortiz during the courtroom appearance. "Make something real good with your life and we will support you."
A tearful Fay McCormack - a Georgia prosecutor who spent her career putting drunken drivers behind bars - told the court how difficult it was to spare the one who took her son's life.
"I wanted to feed him to the dogs," she said, then recalled how her daughter and ex-husband convinced her otherwise.
"I am hoping that with this plea today and with the generosity of my family, [Ortiz] will keep Malcolm's memory," she said.
Ortiz briefly answered the judge's questions in Brooklyn Supreme Court, admitting to drinking two orange liqueurs before getting behind the wheel and hitting McCormack as he crossed a busy East New York boulevard.
"This was a great outcome," said defense lawyer Eric Franz, noting that prosecutors had a weak case because his client showed no evidence of intoxication after the crash, but instead called 911 and remained at the scene.
As part of the deal, Ortiz must attend 50 meetings with relatives of drunken-driving victims and must sit down with the McCormacks after the hearing, when he tearfully apologizes. If he completes the program, his felony will be expunged.
Speaking in court before her parents, Francia McCormack Wilson portrayed her brother, who died at 28, as a gifted musician, a computer whiz and aspiring lawyer all rolled into one.
"Justice to me," she concluded, "is seeing Michael honoring my brother by teaching people how to be better."
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