A car crash, and a trail of broken lives

Every storm that howled through south Florida in the last decade may have terrified their neighbors, but nasty weather only made life more secure for John and Barbara O’Brien.

The one-time Chicago couple had set-up a now thriving hurricane shutter company.

Successful business people, active in their ocean side community and most of all, Barbara O’Brien would tell the jury, devoted to raising Jennifer, their only child.

(In court) Barbara O’Brien, Jenny's mother: When she was a little girl, of course it was Brownies. From there we went to Girl Scouts, and I was the cookie mom. And then the kids loved to take trips with me so I always was the mom that did the trips.  

Bill Reese, O'Briens' attorney: She called herself “Mrs. Mom.” She was involved in every school function for kids. Her life was centered around her child and doing things with the kids.

But now, according to their lawyer Bill Reese, those same child-centered priorities, that willingness to let their teenage daughter have 19 friends over for a pool-side party, could cost them everything— their business, their savings, their reputations.     

If the jury decided in favor of the Stones, it would be as though the O’Briens had contributed to Sara Stone’s death even though it was Stephen Bromstrup behind the wheel.

Reese: It would have meant that Mr. and Mrs. O’Brien didn’t do what they should have done that night and therefore were part of the cause of the accident.

The O’Brien’s lawyer told their version of the night, explaining first how the house was an important part of their family glue.

Reese: They wanted Jennifer to feel like whenever she wanted to bring children around and kids and friends of hers, their house was always open.

And what a great place for entertaining the O’Brien home was: a couple-acres on the water, two docks, a boat, a backyard pool and the gracious home itself with upper and lower water-view decks.

For John and Barbara O’Brien the house was everything they’d worked so hard for.

Attorney: Did you have gatherings at your home?

Barbara O’Brien: All the time.  

Attorney: And how many gatherings have had at your house since Jenny let’s say, turned the age of 12?

Barbara: Hundreds.

Hundreds of get-togethers Barbara O’Brien told the jury, and at each one she felt good knowing that her daughter and her friends had a safe place to gather.

Attorney: In Jenny’s 17 years, have you ever permitted any minors to continue drinking alcohol once you found it?

Barbara O’Brien: Absolutely not.

Attorney: Have you ever served minors alcohol at your home at any time?

Barbara: Absolutely not. It’s not tolerated, it’s underage drinking. It’s illegal. It’s wrong.

In fact, the O’Brien’s lawyer said a few months before, when the couple discovered some empties in their yard after one of their daughter’s sleep-over parties, the consequences for Jennifer were serious.

Reese: Jennifer was grounded for three weeks and told never to do it again, and they believed that she would never do it again.

But she did.

And when Barbara O’Brien got her first clear sign of trouble early on that the kids were sneaking drinks, she didn’t laugh it off, she didn’t play hip mom. As her lawyer describes it— she was decisive and emphatic.  

Bill Reese, O'Briens' attorney: She literally looked out the window from her kitchen and saw a boy take a backpack and pull out a bottle of clear liquid and put it on the table.  She immediately ran out, yelled what are you doing? Grabbed it from the table, poured it out and said, “Is there any more?” “No, Mrs. O’Brien.” then she yelled to everybody, “There will be no alcohol at this party. Does anybody have any? If anybody does you better give it to me now.”

Believing the problem was solved, Barbara O’Brien went upstairs to share a glass of wine with a friend.   

Reese: They were upstairs where they could still look out a window at the kids. And they each had a couple sips of wine. I mean they, they really didn’t even drink a whole glass.

Dennis Murphy, Dateline correspondent: How is she doing so far as a chaperone of a teenage party?

Reese: I mean I’m the father of two daughters that were teenagers and they don’t want you out at the parties sitting with them. They want to have their own privacy.

But even from that upstairs perch, when the friend spotted a teenager down at the dock two beers in hand, Barbara O’Brien sprang into action.

Reese: Barbara sees it. Runs downstairs, runs down to the dock, goes “What on earth are you doing again?” pours that out, then sees another boy kind of sticking something underneath a bench, which is another bottle of alcohol. This is a full bottle. She grabs that, pours all of that out and then once again, yelling at everybody, “There better not be any more of this. There’s going to be no alcohol at this party.” And she thought she got it all.

Murphy: Should Barbara O’Brien have known at that point that she’d lost control?

Reese: Barbara believed that what she had done was totally appropriate which was to immediately pour everything out and tell everybody, “There better not be any more of this or this party is going to be over.”

Barbara O’Brien (court transcript): Every time  I saw something I poured it out. 

Attorney: You had the power and the control, as the adult supervising the kids to take action.

Barbara O’Brien: I did take action.

Attorney: Were there options available to you other than just taking away the alcohol and letting the party continue?

Barbara O’Brien: I poured it out.  I didn’t tolerate it. I did the best I could do.

And her husband John O’Brien testified that by the time he got home from work around nine he saw nothing but sober, well-behaved teenagers.

Attorney: Did you see any of the young people who appeared to you to be intoxicated, drunk, under the influence?

John O’Brien: Absolutely not.

When smuggled in alcohol was spotted it was disposed of every time. That was the story told by some of the kids who attended the party as they spoke-up on behalf of the O’Brien’s.

Drew Mclean: She had the bottle in her hand and made an announcement that there was no alcohol to be at this party and asked if anyone had anymore alcohol.

Jordan Green: She made it a point to make sure that everyone had no alcohol. She said, “No drinking, no alcohol.”

Christina Jones: Everything that they saw they dumped out, so I think they did everything they could.

But Stephen Bromstrup— the boy who drove the car that caused the fatal crash— had a different account of the party than those other teenage guests.

He testified that when he arrived at the party, after Mrs. O’Brien says she dumped the alcohol in dramatic-fashion, he and other kids were still drinking throughout the night and not even being sly about it.

Attorney: Were you trying to conceal the beer?

Stephen Bromstrup: No sir.

So why would Stephen testify so readily about drinking illegally?

Did he have something to gain by helping the Stones make their case against the O’Briens as irresponsible parents?

Their lawyer thought that he did.

Attorney: Have you tried to have your sentence lightened?

Bromstrup: I’ve gone back on a few appeals, yes sir.

Reese: I said, “Are you aware of the fact that if Mr. and Mrs. Stone sign an affidavit, they may be able to help get you a lessened sentence?” And he denied that. But I wanted the jury to at least think there could be a motivation for him, out of all the people at the party, testifying as he did against the O’Briens.

But keep in mind, a central question the Stones were asking the jury to answer was this:  If dumping the alcohol didn’t stop the drinking, why didn’t Barbara O’Brien up the ante— call their parents, stop the party, take the car keys?

But Barbara O’Brien pleaded with the jury to see it from her perspective—that without 20/20 hindsight she did everything she thought she could at the time to stop the drinking.

Barbara O’Brien: I didn’t know that this accident was going to happen. But I really felt at the time it was the right thing to do as a parent you guys. I stopped everything early. Honestly believe me.  

To the O’Briens it was as clear as it was tragic: 16-year-old Stephen Bromstrup made the decision to drink and drive that night. He was responsible for the horrible collision that killed two teenage girls. 

Reese: He and he alone was the cause of the accident.

A teenage boy with more beer and more car than he could handle?

Or were the O’Briens all but with Stephen in that speeding car? Did they fuel a fatal accident by not doing enough to stop the drinking at their home by underage teens?

It was up to a jury to decide.

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