If you were the judge in this case, how would you rule?

[mikebw]

LIFE on Windows 3.1!!

[(vikm)]

Is the driver a celebrity? Then I think they should only be subjected to house arrest for, I dunno, 3 months. Sound good?

[Mini 9]

Not answering the judge question.
But advise to learn that regardless the legal penalty, the driver is alive. Choose your mode of transportation knowing this.

[macphanatic]

Paul F. wrote:
First, because of the way you asked the question, I have to politely throw this in...
If you're a Juror or some such.. please tell the Judge NOW to excuse you, so there's no mistrial.

I figure that's unlikely... but I had to say it.


Now.. on to the question.
In MY opinion, a hit and run like that deserves 15-20 years.
Had a (sober) driver screwed up and hit someone, and STOPPED and fessed up; I can be lenient.
Had the driver started to leave, then stopped and fessed up... I could be lenient.

To kill someone, run and hide for a couple days, IN ADDITION to the previous charges?
15-20... 10 with good behavior.
Not a day less!

I could be swayed the other direction to a "hard 20" with no parole too...

Shouldn't be a jury as the driver plead guilty.

That being said, I agree that a hard 20 with no parole, add in loss of driving privilege for life with immediate imprisionment if this person ever operates a motor vehicle within their lifetime.

It is obvious that this person has no regard for the law and is now a three time offender (even if they aren't felony offenses). No leniency should be shown.

[Panopticon]

threeprong, you're in NC right?
I read about this case & the presiding judge is reportedly
a pantywaist showing a particular favoritism for female defendants.


sad

[dreed2]

This person is a danger to society and should receive the maximum sentence for manslaughter and all the other charges (leaving the scene of an accident, marked lanes violation, etc. etc.).

On the other hand, bike riders should always wear helmets. I'm assuming the biker wasn't wearing one or else his/her hair wouldn't have been in the windshield of the car. I'm a biker and always wear a helmet. It saved my life once, even though it didn't help my broken elbow much.

[cbelt3]

dreed-
Agreed, however helmet don't always help when it's a 3 ton vehicle traveling at 35 mph (or higher) versus a human body. My Dad was killed when he was struck by a minivan going about 35. (Not the driver's fault... Dad walked against the light. At night. In the rain. Wearing dark clothes. He was just.. in a hurry.)

[Blankity Blank]

A lot of question marks…

threeprong wrote:
A driver of a vehicle crosses the center line and strikes an oncoming cyclist. The driver never hit the brakes. The driver of the vehicle keeps going and doesn't stop.
Never hits the brakes. Keeps going as if nothing happened. I have to wonder if they were not fully aware of their surroundings for some reason.

The accident happened 1 hour and a half before sunset. Visibility was excellent. No rain.

Witnesses watched the SUV involved hit the cyclist, slow down, execute a u-turn and then proceed to leave under high acceleration. Grossly slowed reaction time? Shock? The "high acceleration" aspect I would have to look at on it's own with some caution. It's somewhat subjective, and eye witnesses are far from reliable in hectic situations like this. Any physical evidence, like skid marks, to give weight to this?

2 days later, a convenience store clerk reports a vehicle matching the description of the vehicle in the accident and takes down the license plate. Highway patrol find the vehicle parked at a residence of the driver. The windshield is dished in and spider webbed over 1/3 of the glass on the driver's side. There's blood and hair from the cyclist in the windshield.
So they made absolutely no effort whatsoever to hide the very obvious evidence of their act. Something very, very wrong is going on. Sociopath? Sounds like they need some kind of psychological evaluation to find out what screw has come loose.

Court records show that the driver has charges pending from June 2007 of failure to appear in court on charges of driving with no operator’s license, having no insurance, speeding and driving the wrong way on a two-lane road.The wrong way on a two-lane road? All this really has me wondering if there's some cognitive deficit at work.

If the felony hit and run sticks, I'd have a hard time believing they won't serve some jail time with the surrounding facts and the history already on the record. How long do the "deserve"? Way too many facts missing to answer that one. But if it's not already a given, it's obviously way, way past time to pull their driving privileges permanently no matter what else happens.

[dreed2]

cbelt3 wrote:
dreed-
Agreed, however helmet don't always help when it's a 3 ton vehicle traveling at 35 mph (or higher) versus a human body. My Dad was killed when he was struck by a minivan going about 35. (Not the driver's fault... Dad walked against the light. At night. In the rain. Wearing dark clothes. He was just.. in a hurry.)

Yeah, my uncle was killed while crossing the road by an SUV and the driver wasn't charged with anything. The newspaper reported that my uncle was "carrying a bottle of wine", which he hadn't even had the opportunity to open before he was run over and killed by the SUV that hit him, even though he was wearing a brightly colored plaid shirt and the street was well lit, but the driver wasn't at fault. Sorry about your dad, cbelt3. That just sucks.

[threeprong]

I asked the question above because I wanted to check the pulse here on how folks felt about this scenario.

The details I put in the earlier post were from a real case that just went to trial and sentencing.

The driver was sentenced to 14-17 months in prison. Sentence delayed until Oct. 11

There's talk locally of this ruling being light due to the perception of bicycles on the road.
Similar cases involving either pedestrians or other vehicles with a hit and run death have warranted much longer sentences.

Details of the real case here...

http://www.digtriad.com/news/local/story...yid=147015&catid=57

Thanks for sharing your responses.