‘She was the happiest, most joyful person:’ Local wife remembered following her killer’s sentencing

The woman who police say drove drunk with drugs in her system, killing a St. Johns County mother was sentenced to 10.5 years in prison.

The case may be closed but the legacy of Nancy Griffin will never be forgotten. A memorial still sits at the crash site from 16 months ago, her husband tells Action News Jax Ben Ryan, who’s been following this case since the day it happened, that it’s been the most difficult time of his life.

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On Mar. 1, 2023, Paul Griffin said his life came to a screeching halt.

“Suddenly nothing was the same in my life. So, I had to dig deep and try to find myself again and decide how I’m going to move forward in my life and take all the dreams that we had are gone,” he said.

Investigators said the woman who killed his wife was drunk and had cocaine in her system. The crash happened on St. Johns Parkway near Avery Garden Place. 27-year-old Kelsey Herrin pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10.5 years in prison, followed by two years of probation and her driver’s license revoked for life.

“I wanted justice for the person responsible for killing her, but there’s no winners in the end,” Griffin said.

Griffin said in court Herrin apologized.

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“She did it in a way that I felt was legitimate, and she said she wished she could take Nancy’s place,” he said.

Griffin delivered a roughly 30-minute victim impact statement to the court, he wanted everyone to know who his wife was, and the impact of her loss. Nancy was the light and love of his life.

“She was the happiest, most joyful person you’d ever want to meet; she’d engage people and had this beautiful way of making people laugh and smile,” he said.

Griffin has a message for anyone who thinks about driving under the influence.

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“Don’t do it, plan ahead,” he said. “There’s Uber, Lyft, all kinds of ways to get rides, ask a friend, designated drivers.”

Griffin said nobody wins when someone drives impaired, saying the biggest thing to change is not letting someone under the influence behind the wheel in the first place.

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