Probably guilt from the dad as well because he had his kids out on a dark road pushing his truck in the middle of the night. If the other guy hadn't been drinking this still could have been a tragedy.
I imagine the charge will be reduced...maybe to something like manslaughter. He deserves time, but sympathy will keep him from serving very long given the circumstances of the case.
Drunk drivers kill so so many....and the deaths of these children is just a tip of the iceberg. Maybe if we ban..Mmmmm
I know where you're going with this, so won't comment on that... ... but clearly we do need much tougher laws wrt drunk driving. First incident should be meaningful mandatory jail time, imo
I'd definitely offer that to him. 5 years is long enough to show this can't be tolerated. Count me as shocked that the minimum is so low.
Definitely. I'm pretty forgiving, but we just don't do enough to deter drunk driving. For the poster's comparison to guns, it brings to mind Plaxico Burress who got 2 years when he accidently shot himself in the leg. If we gave 2 years (not that I'm advocating that) for a drunk driver, people would be less likely to risk it. 1st offense I wouldn't be too hard on. Mandatory 3 days or something like that plus fine and license suspension. 2nd offense gets much harder, and 3rd is several years in prison plus permanent license revocation. Also needs to be a better system in place for law enforcement to cross-reference arrests made in other states.
Wow a DD sighting. One thing I noticed from the article though is that the case against Barajes is circumstantial. No direct physical evidence has been found An empty holster and some ammunition doesn't directly prove that he was the one who shot Banda. Now I agree that it is most likely him that shot Banda but a good lawyer should be able to show enough for reasonable doubt. Anyway something like that might factor into a plea deal down to something less severe like manslaughter or murder 2.
Any good prosecutor should weed people like you out since it is clear that you would not follow the law. The jury process is about upholding the law and personal feelings aside shooting a defenseless person no matter what he had done is murder. Personal feelings should come into play at sentencing and even if this guy is convicted he might get a lighter sentence.
I think 5 years is a damn long time, and plenty to ruin this guy's life. We seem to get inerred to these long sentences in the US because we throw around so much punishment. But, even 5 years is a lot of time to be locked in a cage. He'd miss a third of his remaining children's childhood. And when he gets out he'd still have the stigma of being a convicted murderer. He'd have trouble getting jobs, renting apartments, etc, etc. Even a light sentence is rough on a person who was trying to do something with his life.
His life as far as getting jobs is pretty much ruined regardless unless he is found innocent. No way he pleads out at something that isn't a felony (manslaughter seems likely). No matter what happens, everybody involved loses. 3 people are dead, a father is likely going to jail, 2 sets of parents have lost children.
