Nearly every occupant of the crowded Cassopolis courtroom was brought to tears Friday morning, as two fathers told the judge how the fates of their daughters’ lives following a tragic car crash in Niles changed their own futures forever.

For Al Menting, he spends much of his day supporting his daughter, Janet, whose injuries in the accident have resulted in her having to use a wheelchair to get around. Her condition has put in jeopardy her ability to continue playing soccer, one of her passions in life, her father said.

“Her normal life is not normal anymore,” Menting said. “Her normal now is sitting her chair, crying because her arm doesn’t work, because her face is scarred.”

For Randy DoBrodt, he and his family are still struggling to get used to life without his oldest daughter, Rayna, who lost her life in the collision.

“My pain is unbearable, and to see the same pain in my wife’s eyes, my two daughters and my son, it’s like getting punched in the gut and not being able to get back up,” he said.

Seated at the defendant’s table only a few feet away, the driver responsible for the accident, 20-year-old Austin Kyle Brouwer, was visibly distraught by the fathers’ stories, his head sunk solemnly towards the floor.

Despite his obvious remorse, Judge Michael Dodge decided that incarceration in a Michigan penitentiary was an appropriate punishment for his reckless and lethal actions.

The Cass County judge sentenced the Osceola man to a minimum term of four years in prison to a maximum term of 15 years on charges of involuntary manslaughter and reckless driving causing serious impairment of a body function. Brouwer had previously pleaded no contest to these charges in a previous appearance in court, on March 6.

The accident occurred on July 26 of last year, when Brouwer was driving a 2006 Chevy Colorado on M-60 in Niles, on his way toward a bar located in Mendon from Indiana. Riding in the car with him were the two victims, with Janet Menting sitting next to him in the passenger seat and Rayna DoBrodt directly behind him in the left rear passenger seat. While traveling at speeds well above the legal limit, estimated between 90-100 miles per hour, Brouwer attempted to pass some vehicles ahead of his vehicle, Dodge said.

“You attempted to pass them on a gravel [right] shoulder,” Dodge said. “This caused you to lose control as you came back to travel portion of the highway. You struck one of the vehicles that was in its own lane of travel. That caused your vehicle to roll then several times into the grassy medium.”

According to law enforcement, the vehicle’s black box recorded a speed of 93 miles per hour at the time of the crash, Dodge said.

DoBrodt suffered mortal injury as a result of the accident, transported to Lakeland Hospital where she was pronounced dead. Menting was taken to South Bend Memorial Hospital for their emergency surgery, requiring over six months of rehabilitation before she could return home.

Brouwer was not under the influence of any drugs or alcohol during the time of the crash, nor was he distracted by texting, said his attorney, Daniel French. The lawyer described his client as a “homebody” without a lot of friends, who took the opportunity to live it up that evening.

Since the accident, Brouwer has lived with the severity of his actions, and has lost a lot of his passion for life, French said.

“I don’t think there’s any sentence the court could hand down that he isn’t living though right now,” French said.

While the two charges were his first interactions with the criminal justice system, Dodge still handed down a sentence within the sentencing guideline range due to the damage his actions caused that summer evening.

“Your decision to drive recklessly that day has ruined the lives of several people,” Dodge said.

Brouwer was given 116 days credit for time already served.

Also sentenced Friday:

• Antwan Williams Bacon, 24, to one year in jail for fourth-degree criminal sexual conduct and furnishing alcohol to a minor.

• Patricia Lynn Chamness, 31, of Dowagiac, to 90 days in jail and three years of probation for embezzlement.

• Derick Wayne Carlton, 35, of Dowagiac, to 23 months in prison for assault with intent to cause great bodily harm less than murder.

• Rodney Lynn Williams, 33, of Marcellus, to three years of probation for meth related charges.

• Nathaniel Nim Orr, 27, of Edwardsburg, to five years in prison for involuntary manslaughter and delivery of narcotics.

• Brett Eugene Romig, 33, of Vandalia, to three years of probation for meth and marijuana related charges.

• Steven Douglas Frakes II, of Edwardsburg, to two years of probation and $800 of restitution for malicious destruction of a building and resisting arrest.

• David Allen Christians, 27, of Benton Harbor, to 150 days in jail for possession of cocaine and resisting arrest.

• Eric Shonta Reynolds, 40, of Benton Harbor, to 210 days in jail and two years of probation for domestic violence.