Bertram man gets probation in boating death
BURNET — Justin Roberts’ mother stood 15 feet away in a courtroom from the man who killed her son in a boating collision and addressed him, almost a decade after the tragic day that forever changed her family’s life.
Yet while the pain will never fade, Donna Roberts told defendant Travis Marburger the family is not seeking vengeance.
“There are choices to be made here today,” Roberts said in 33rd state District Judge Guilford “Gil” Jones’ courtoom. “My family has a choice today — we can chose to be better or we can chose to be bitter. We chose better. We chose forgiveness.”
Marburger, 37, pleaded guilty Jan. 20 to failing to stop and render aid in a boat collision involving death or serious injury.
As part of a plea deal, he remains on probation the next 10 years and must spend at least 100 days in the Burnet County Jail.
PHOTO: Travis Marburger of Bertram waits in the courtroom of 33rd state District Judge Guilford ‘Gil’ Jones Jan. 20 before entering a guilty plea in a 2002 Lake Buchanan boating hit-and-run accident. Staff photo by Daniel Clifton