Sentencing Set for August 17 In Chesterfield Teacher's Death

A 55-year-old Chesterfield man who drove drunk into a teacher's car nearly a year ago, killing her, is due to be sentenced August 17 in St. Louis County court.

Patrick McCormick told the courts he was depressed, and no longer working at Saint Louis University Medical Center as director of buildings or grounds, when he pleaded guilty June 22.

McCormick drove his car around a curve August 26, 2011 on Wildhorse Creek Road and according to officials, crossed over the center line and crashed into Janet Esrock's car head-on, critically injuring Esrock, and her teen son Jonathan. 

The mother and son were driving home from a Friday night public high school football game, a game in which Jonathan's buddy and next door neighbor played.

Janet Esrock, 50, died  after the family agreed to let nature take its course. Family members wrote on a public blog, that they gathered around Jan's bed the night before, and tenderly shared the time left.

Jonathan remained hospitalized, and had numerous surgeries for broken bones. He eventually left the hospital, staying with his grandmother for a time because he needed therapy and recovery. His older sister considered leaving college to care for him. His older brother had just started college. Jonathan eventually returned part-time to Whitfield School.

The neighbor boy whose football game the Esrocks went to watch, . Janet Esrock, a math teacher at the private Whitfield School in Creve Coeur, had tutored the boy in math. She encouraged him to aim for a football scholarship to college.

The football player's family often kept the Esrock dog in the evenings, he wrote, like it was their own dog.

The football player and his family saw police cars and EMS trucks at the crash site on their way back home after the game, and fretted over who it might be.

He said when no member of the Esrock family came over that night to retreive the dog, he knew something was wrong, very wrong.

And now after a year of negotiations, no jail time, and a guilty plea, McCormick is due for sentencing August 17, 9 a.m.

We'll learn what sort of deal was agreed upon before he pleaded guilty, and whether or not he will be returning home to his family.