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Folks in Texas do NOT drive in conditions like these all the time. I live in Texas and I will tell you Texans are total idiots when even one square inch of ice is on the road. There was no reason for that prison van to be on the roads in that condition and I hope Texas gets sued to the max. You can all tell I hate this state, because Texans think they know how to drive, when actually they don't.
I think you're confusing assault with battery. Assault basically comes down to causing someone to be afraid. No contact has to take place. A simple threat can constitute assault.
Go have a look up of what the definition of criminal assault is. Remember, assault.. not Aggravated assault. Not assault and battery.
I generally would consider true assault vs simple drug possession to be equal. Neither is worse than the other.. They're both piddly little things that deserve no more than a fine.
However.. To be sentenced to prison means that there was no simple drug possession. It was felony drug possession. And there was no simple assault.. There was assault and battery, or assault with bodily injury, or aggravated assault. When you get into those areas, the details make a difference.
Which is worse, the guy with a kilo of cocaine who was distributing it, or the guy who punched a drunk in a bar and unintentionally broke his jaw because the drunk was making passes at his wife?
So, in that case.. Which is worse? Drug Possession or Assault with Bodily Injury?
Like I said, I consider assault, criminal or otherwise, a greater grievance than drug possession. There's really nothing else to say about it.
5 years for possession... gotta love Texas. I mean the guy who assaulted family got only 2 years. Only one guy got a longer sentence than the black guy. One, and he actually committed burglary. Bet money that the money they pay Byron's next of kin will pale, like by multiples of ten, in comparison with the payouts to the rest of the deceased.
Only if his next of kin would accept less than the rest.
Folks in Texas do NOT drive in conditions like these all the time. I live in Texas and I will tell you Texans are total idiots when even one square inch of ice is on the road. There was no reason for that prison van to be on the roads in that condition and I hope Texas gets sued to the max.
That is true to most of Texas but in that area of Texas they probably get ice all the time and is probably more use to it. In fact, in areas where there is ice all the time (up north) you still hear of accidents etc. so can anyone really KNOW how to drive on ice? Imo, the best way is to avoid driving if you can.
Like I said, I consider assault, criminal or otherwise, a greater grievance than drug possession. There's really nothing else to say about it.
Yes well many laws society passes not only disagree with you, but you seem to always miss an important point in these discussions.
You then to try and mix up justice, with equality of outcomes.
If the drug dealer receives a harsher sentence than another type of criminal, no one could argue his did not receive a just sentence. Conversely, if you feel as if someone commits a violent crime they should do more time, then lobby for stiffer sentences for those type of crimes, rather than trying to reduce the sentences of dope dealers.
Lets not for get that many violent crimes are committed by dope dealers and their drug buyers. They commit these crimes because of altered minds which reduces their capacity to think and realize they are doing wrong. Additionally they commit crimes because their drug use prevents them from typically holding a respectable job, and they commit crimes to feed their drug addiction.
So you will not get any sympathy from people like me for dope dealers, even if I agree that other types of crimes should receive stiffer sentences.
Yes well many laws society passes not only disagree with you, but you seem to always miss an important point in these discussions.
You then to try and mix up justice, with equality of outcomes.
If the drug dealer receives a harsher sentence than another type of criminal, no one could argue his did not receive a just sentence. Conversely, if you feel as if someone commits a violent crime they should do more time, then lobby for stiffer sentences for those type of crimes, rather than trying to reduce the sentences of dope dealers.
Lets not for get that many violent crimes are committed by dope dealers and their drug buyers. They commit these crimes because of altered minds which reduces their capacity to think and realize they are doing wrong. Additionally they commit crimes because their drug use prevents them from typically holding a respectable job, and they commit crimes to feed their drug addiction.
So you will not get any sympathy from people like me for dope dealers, even if I agree that other types of crimes should receive stiffer sentences.
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They did not say that Byron was charged with dealing drugs. They did not say that he was the Kingpin of a Cocaine Empire who had ordered dozens of hits of rivals They said he was serving a five year sentence for "possession of a controlled substance". When white men go before a judge or judge and jury, their crimes are downgraded and if convicted, they serve minimal sentences relative to their misdeeds. When black men face the bench their crimes are extrapolated out to their illogical extreme and when convicted, black men can and do serve multi-year sentences for misdemeanor offenses and life sentences for non-violent felony offenses. If you can even find six examples of things going the other way, I will retract my opinion.
I'm sure there aren't many Texans who know how to drive on black ice. And I'm sure most Texas drivers don't understand the conditions that make black ice either.
I've driven on the stuff all my life. I never know, as the sun goes down or the day is steadily turning colder, if black ice is forming somewhere up ahead or not, and after 60 years of driving on it, I'm still often surprised when I hit a patch.
That's the reason I have the best winter tires I could buy, and get them installed just as winter sets in, here in Idaho. I wouldn't expect a Texas driver to even know what a good winter tire even is, much less how to handle a skidding bus on black ice.
It was an accident, pure and simple. That deadly skid could easily have been the driver's first experience ever driving on black ice. It's very sad that everyone died, but I've seen driver's ed kids kill everyone in a car in the exact same circumstances. Sometimes survival is all about previous experience in the driving conditions of the moment.
I suggest that they check to see if there was a Dr. Richard Kimball on the prisoner manifest.
I read this thread specifically to see if anyone was gonna say something to that effect.
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