AUBURN – The Jellison family huddled around the living room Tuesday night watching images of themselves on the evening news. They had submitted to media interviews answering questions throughout the day.

The faces of news reporters changed as the day moved along, but the thoughts of the family did not. They were unhappy about the way things had gone in court, where all charges against 19-year-old Kyle Karkos were dropped.

“Where is the justice?” wondered Linda Jellison, mother of 18-year-old Kenny Jellison Jr., who was killed in a car wreck in April 2006. “To let someone off the way that Kyle got off, it just sets a bad example for other teenagers. Where does it tell the teenagers that it’s not OK to speed? That it’s not OK to raise hell the way he was doing?”

Karkos had been charged with reckless conduct, driving to endanger and manslaughter in the April 5, 2006, crash in Lewiston that killed Kenny Jr. Before the charges were dismissed, Karkos faced the prospect of going to prison until he reached the age of 21.

“If he was found guilty, his mother would have had her son back in two years,” Linda Jellison said. “We are never going to have our son back. It was a no-win situation.”

That Karkos will serve no time at all disappointed the Jellison family. They were stunned when the judge dismissed the charges a day after refusing to do so at the request of Karkos’ attorney.

“I don’t understand the logic of it,” said Ken Jellison Sr., the dead teen’s father. He thought the manslaughter charge might have been dismissed but expected that Karkos would have been found guilty on one of the lesser charges.

“It makes me wonder how the lawyers and judges sleep at night,” Linda Jellison said.

Karkos and Kenny Jellison Jr. had been friends who just started hanging around together again shortly before the crash, according to Jellison’s family. They believed Karkos was reckless but they did not tell their son whom he could associate with.

“Kenny was a real good kid,” his father said. “Being 18, we didn’t tell him who he could or could not hang out with.”

The death of Kenny Jr. caused a rift between the Jellison and Karkos families. Linda and Ken Sr. said friends of Karkos have harassed them since charges were brought in connection with the crash.

“They think that Kenny and I are the ones doing the charges,” Linda said. “It’s not. It’s the state. They don’t get that.”

The Jellisons said teenagers frequently drive by their house, honking their horns and yelling in support of Karkos. They said their car has been vandalized, and they believe it is the work of the same group.

“We’ve had a lot of problems with friends of Kyle’s,” Kenny Sr. said. “Hopefully, now that will end.”

Auburn police are investigating the alleged harassment.

On Tuesday night, more than eight hours after they left court, the Jellison family gathered at Canal and Lisbon streets, the scene of the crash that killed Kenny Jr. They were hoping to put the ugliness of the trial behind them and start mourning and memorializing their son in quieter ways.

“We’ll try to go on with our lives now,” Linda Jellison said. “We’ll try to heal.”