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Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,761,129 times
Reputation: 3587
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Here we go again with more sap for the poor drunk driver who kills a family. All we hear is what a "good boy Marty is" and why we should go easy on him instead of making him the filthy murderer he is.
By his attorney's reasoning, Marty, who drank 14 drinks and ran into a family head on driving the WRONG way down the expressway is not a "murderer" because there was "no intent". So I guess by that reasoning, if I get good and drunk and pull out an AK-47 and fire at random into a crowd of people, I too should be convicted of a misdomeanor "criminally negligent manslaughter" and do less than 4 years no matter how many people I kill. Hell, I am white like Marty and I might even get away with it! Or maybe I should just get drunk and grab a sword and behead a 7 year old girl! After all Marty did the same thing! Five-year-old Grace was also trapped inside the wreckage. Jennifer, whose foot was injured, managed to climb out and was searching for Katie, who had been lying on the side seat before the crash. "We couldn't find Kate," Lt. Tangney says. Then, Jennifer made a devastating discovery --Katie had been decapitated by her seat belt. "Then all of a sudden Mrs. Flynn came out of the car with her child's head in her hand," says Michael Lerardi, one of the 70 paramedics and police officers who were called to the scene.
How many of you feel sorry for Marty? How many of you think his sentence of 18 years is "too long" for him to serve? Personally I hope his life is a living hell in there!
I feel sorry for all involved. I can understand why those who lost a loved one would be angry....I'd be shocked if they weren't angry. However, how in the world someone can't also feel sorry for "marty" in this case, I'll never know.
Let's look at it logically. Marty has had a life changing negative event. He will most likely be in jail for some time and will undoubtedly face fines in the thousands and thousands of dollars. He'll live with a ton of guilt for the rest of his days, his car insurance rates will triple or more. He'll probably lose many of his friends and possibly even some of his family if they feel stong enough that he's a loser and failed yet again to clean up his act. He may lose his job for one reason or another. He'll probably lose his drivers license for anywhere from 3 months to a year. He's probably an alcoholic and at the very least has a serious problem with binge drinking.
Now, strange as it may seem, does anyone feel just a little bit sorry for Marty ?
Feeling sorry for Marty in NO way diminishes our anger at his careless act and the senseless lose of life that he caused.
Here we go again with more sap for the poor drunk driver who kills a family. All we hear is what a "good boy Marty is" and why we should go easy on him instead of making him the filthy murderer he is.
By his attorney's reasoning, Marty, who drank 14 drinks and ran into a family head on driving the WRONG way down the expressway is not a "murderer" because there was "no intent". So I guess by that reasoning, if I get good and drunk and pull out an AK-47 and fire at random into a crowd of people, I too should be convicted of a misdomeanor "criminally negligent manslaughter" and do less than 4 years no matter how many people I kill. Hell, I am white like Marty and I might even get away with it! Or maybe I should just get drunk and grab a sword and behead a 7 year old girl! After all Marty did the same thing! Five-year-old Grace was also trapped inside the wreckage. Jennifer, whose foot was injured, managed to climb out and was searching for Katie, who had been lying on the side seat before the crash. "We couldn't find Kate," Lt. Tangney says. Then, Jennifer made a devastating discovery --Katie had been decapitated by her seat belt. "Then all of a sudden Mrs. Flynn came out of the car with her child's head in her hand," says Michael Lerardi, one of the 70 paramedics and police officers who were called to the scene.
How many of you feel sorry for Marty? How many of you think his sentence of 18 years is "too long" for him to serve? Personally I hope his life is a living hell in there!
First of all, there is this thing called loyalty, friends and family will always try to mitigate the random acts committed by love ones, to think otherwise is foolish.
The second this is, vehicular manslaughter, or for that matter, any manslaughter is always a felony, not a misdemeanor.
Thirdly, their is this strange contradiction implicit in the drunk driving debate. The reason why we don't allow driving while impaired is because the judgement is the impairment. Murder, and I assume you mean in the 1st Degree, requires intent. By definition impaired judgement implies that the drunk driver not only did not intend to kill anyone but that there ability to make rational decisions was severely impaired. This does not preclude their prosecution for lesser levels of conviction most of which carry very stiff penalties.
People who like to drink and party at bars, etc. should move to the city, where they can walk to the bar or liquor store and take taxicabs.
You'd think some these idiot repeat offenders would figure this out, move, and save themselves the trouble -- and they can continue to drink and party as they please without killing someone on the road!
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,761,129 times
Reputation: 3587
Quote:
Originally Posted by ovcatto
First of all, there is this thing called loyalty, friends and family will always try to mitigate the random acts committed by love ones, to think otherwise is foolish.
The second this is, vehicular manslaughter, or for that matter, any manslaughter is always a felony, not a misdemeanor.
Thirdly, their is this strange contradiction implicit in the drunk driving debate. The reason why we don't allow driving while impaired is because the judgement is the impairment. Murder, and I assume you mean in the 1st Degree, requires intent. By definition impaired judgement implies that the drunk driver not only did not intend to kill anyone but that there ability to make rational decisions was severely impaired. This does not preclude their prosecution for lesser levels of conviction most of which carry very stiff penalties.
The conviction was for 2nd degree depraved felony murder. This requires that the murderer acted in a depraved way that showed no value or concern for human life. Usually it is used for people that attack others resulting in death when the prosecution cannot prove intent. I think it fits the crime fine.
Location: Jonquil City (aka Smyrna) Georgia- by Atlanta
16,259 posts, read 24,761,129 times
Reputation: 3587
Quote:
Originally Posted by ovcatto
First of all, there is this thing called loyalty, friends and family will always try to mitigate the random acts committed by love ones, to think otherwise is foolish.
The second this is, vehicular manslaughter, or for that matter, any manslaughter is always a felony, not a misdemeanor.
Thirdly, their is this strange contradiction implicit in the drunk driving debate. The reason why we don't allow driving while impaired is because the judgement is the impairment. Murder, and I assume you mean in the 1st Degree, requires intent. By definition impaired judgement implies that the drunk driver not only did not intend to kill anyone but that there ability to make rational decisions was severely impaired. This does not preclude their prosecution for lesser levels of conviction most of which carry very stiff penalties.
If you are drunk and somebody dies as a result, you should do at LEAST 15 years- at the very LEAST and even after that spend the rest of your life on parole.
Let's look at it logically. Marty has had a life changing negative event. He will most likely be in jail for some time and will undoubtedly face fines in the thousands and thousands of dollars. He'll live with a ton of guilt for the rest of his days, his car insurance rates will triple or more. He'll probably lose many of his friends and possibly even some of his family if they feel stong enough that he's a loser and failed yet again to clean up his act. He may lose his job for one reason or another. He'll probably lose his drivers license for anywhere from 3 months to a year. He's probably an alcoholic and at the very least has a serious problem with binge drinking.
I do feel sorry for him a little but not for any of the reasons you stated above. I only feel a little sorry for him because he is responsible for the deaths of this family and he has to live with that for the rest of his life. I can feel a little sorry for this man but at the same time think that he deserves to be punished and punished hard for his bad decision.
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