"I don't know who you are, sir," Martin yelled to the man as he entered the courthouse. "My son is dead."

In the courtroom, moments before Varner gave his statement, Martin got up to give a statement, saying she isn't sure she could forgive Varner.

"I hope and pray I can get the hatred out of my heart that I have for you," she said.

Then, she asked Varner if his actions were "racially motivated." Varner is white, and Eason was black.

"Was is just hate?" she asked. "Was it because he was a black man? That's what comes to my mind when I think about the way you did him."

Trial testimony showed Varner accelerated after he saw Eason walking along Waverly Road. He struck Eason and dragged his body 100 feet before putting the car in reverse and dragging the man back 50 feet.

"His actions ... defy logic," Assistant Scott County Attorney Kim Shepherd said in court Wednesday as she recommended incarceration for Varner.

Whether Varner meant to run him over or not wasn't necessary to prove vehicle homicide, which is a Class C felony. Shepherd said Varner had time to think through alternative courses of action, such as backing up or driving around the victim. She called his actions "reckless."