Perhaps the next two to four decades in a state correctional institution will provide a Cresson man the clarity of thought he lacked in court this week.
Andrew J. Choros didn't have or wouldn't provide an answer when asked by Cambria County Judge Patrick Kiniry why he fatally shot his mother, Sharon Choros, on Oct. 29, 2010.
Choros had been arrested hours before the fatal shooting for drunken driving but had been released after a blood-alcohol test. After he was in the family home, Choros gathered up a cache of weapons and fired shots in the walls. When Sharon came home, Andrew shot her, watched TV and then shot her again when he realized she wasn't dead, authorities said.
Such a crime, especially shooting the second time, is mind-boggling.
The failure to provide any explanation affirms Kiniry's decision to sentence Choros to the maximum - 20 to 40 years in prison - for his guilty plea to third-degree murder. His family reportedly was hoping for a lighter sentence.
But it's difficult to justify giving a lesser prison term with the absence of an explanation as to why he fired the shots accompanied by a true expression of remorse, which Choros didn't provide to the court.
Now he will have lots of time to think about that.
