The mother of a 14-year-old boy who died in 2012 after being struck by a dirt bike driver near a Plymouth cranberry bog is continuing to fight for justice at the State House.

Jill Ward on Tuesday made her case to state lawmakers, again, that drivers of snow or recreational vehicles who injure or kill someone else should face stiffer penalties. Her testimony came a day after the 11th anniversary of when her son James was buried.

“I have spoken before, written letters and continue to be let down by the Commonwealth time after time,” Ward told the Joint Committee on the Judiciary.

A proposed law, dubbed ‘The James Ward Act,’ seeks to increase the penalty of a hit-and-run with a recreational vehicle that causes bodily injury from a fine between $500 and $1,000 to a jail sentence of one year, a fine between $500 and $1,000, or both.

It also sets penalties for a hit-and-run that results in death of another individual with a jail sentence of no more than two-and-a-half years, a fine of no more than $5,000, or both.

Ward is hoping sooner than later the bill turns law after all these years watching it gain little to no traction on Beacon Hill. Last year, the House approved it, but it did not get attention from the Senate.

“My condolences,” state Rep. Colleen Garry, D-Dracut, told Ward. “It must be very hard testifying so close to the anniversary. Thank you for filing this bill.”

James Ward had been dirt biking on a trail around a Plymouth cranberry bog near the Carver line the afternoon of Dec. 9, 2012, with his father Jimmy and younger brother Jacob, when another dirt biker crashed into him.

James died, just days before celebrating his 15th birthday, from lacerations of the heart, aorta and liver due to blunt force trauma, his mother said, He would have turned 26 last Saturday, she added.

Her husband, she said, told police he asked the suspect Christopher Kelly, 44, of Randolph, to go to the end of the road to wait for the ambulance, but Kelly never returned, driving away without identifying himself.

Jill Ward also contended that Kelly, when confronted by State Police, denied being involved in the crash.

A judge in June 2014 acquitted Kelly on a charge of negligent off-road driving resulting in death, a felony that carried a potential jail sentence of 2.5 years, the Old Colony Memorial reported at the time.

Instead, the judge found Kelly guilty of leaving the scene of a crash, a misdemeanor. He was ordered to complete 40 hours of community service and had his license revoked.

Prosecutors alleged that Kelly was traveling in the wrong lane when he crashed into James, the Old Colony Memorial reported. The defense, meanwhile, said Kelly was driving on the right side of the road and “the collision was an unavoidable accident, given the poor sight lines on the bend where the two bikers crashed,” according to the paper.

“Mr. Kelly was found guilty … for the charges of a misdemeanor, guilty leaving the scene of bodily injury, and this was not the case,” Jill Ward said Tuesday. “Exactly 11 years yesterday, I buried my son. … It was not bodily injury. This bill needs to become law.”

State Rep. Kathy LaNatra, D-Kingston, has refiled the bill the past couple of sessions. In a Facebook post in November 2022, when the House sent it to the Senate, she said she has “had the privilege of getting to know James’ parents.”

“As a parent, I can’t imagine their loss,” LaNatra wrote, “and it is my sincere hope that no family will have to lose a child while the other party only receives mild charges after leaving the scene of the accident.”