I hope she uses this to rebound into the help she needs, for the sake of her kid. I agree, there is non excuse for driving while under the influence. It doesn’t “just happen”. It’s a decision that kills people all the time.

Here in CA we don’t send anyone to prison anymore. Hardly anyone. But just last night I signed the paperwork to transfer an inmate from our custody to state prison for 10 years for the third DUI in 10 years.

Run that by your sis and see how she feels about those prospects.

quote:

Originally posted by Ronin1069:
Loswsmith,

Thank you very much!

De nada. I hope your sister gets the help that she needs for herself and her family. I've done this THOUSANDS of times as both prosecutor and defense attorney. Most of the time its a big wake up call and will work a correction of at least some, if not all, behavior. But then there are those other times . . .

Sal just got a d.u.i. expunged and two weeks later , he got another one.

his mom and dad have all but had it with him and his addiction (s).

his siblings don't allow him at their homes,
can't keep a job. ( plumber pipe fitter union)

His grandma let him live in her house , next door, that may very well be coming to an end.

He's been to rehab , 3 times at 30 days each.
7 people that know him take turns calling each other , to help him ,

all the conversations end in "until he wants to do it , it won't happen"

after 7 years they are just worn the hell out

Based on my experience with drink addicted folks, just taking a guilty plea and moving on is a way of trivializing the experience thus not teaching a lesson.

Not the best idea. It should be painful in time, money and emotion from he get go.

EasyFire

quote:

Her Lawyer is trying to convince her to plead 'not guilty' so they can get copies of the dash-video and look for technical errors.

I just realized why I view lawyers with suspicion. My dad was a confirmed alcoholic for many years. Fortunately, never physically hurt anyone but himself.

Our daughter was nearly killed when a drunk crossed the center line and hit her head-on. She spent more than a month in the hospital, much of it in the ICU. Her/our lawyer was a good guy but was kind of upset when we let him know our feelings about those who drive drunk.

My brother was a state cop and we talked about drunk drivers. His attitude was to "cut them a little slack!" Mine was to throw the book at them. The last time we talked about it, his view had changed. Throw the book at them!!!!!!!!!

I asked why he had changed and his response was that he had had to clean up an accident scene in which a drunk had "T-boned" a station wagon loaded with a woman and her 5 kids. They all died, and the drunk was not seriously (if at all) injured.

Daughter was 20 when the accident happened. Now 38 years later she is facing major surgery to once again repair damage to her hip and leg. Read hip transplant.

The drunk that hit her was a professional truck driver (big rigs) with a 3 count history of drunk driving, with no penalties.

The judge did not do shit to him this time, either. Later we found out that the judge was a career drunk, too.

quote:

Originally posted by Elk Hunter:

quote:

Her Lawyer is trying to convince her to plead 'not guilty' so they can get copies of the dash-video and look for technical errors.

I just realized why I view lawyers with suspicion.

The lawyer is doing his/her job. If you were charged with a crime, would you want a defense lawyer or double-helping of prosecutors?

Even a public defender (who aren't paid hourly and generally make beans for salary) would ask for discovery. Discovery is just getting the other side's story and accumulated evidence. Also, the defense lawyer cannot competently advise the client without knowing what he's up against. It might very well be a slam-dunk case for the prosecution and once the defense sees it, his advice might be "Take whatever deal you get."

Our system assumes that between a zealous prosecutor and a zealous defense, the truth will out.

No offense to the attorneys here, or the people who say to listen to the attorney....

But thats nonsense. If you mess up, own up. Period. Why drag it out?

(Anybody that disagrees with that needs to examine their own honesty.)

quote:

Originally posted by Cous2492:
No offense to the attorneys here, or the people who say to listen to the attorney....

But thats nonsense. If you mess up, own up. Period. Why drag it out?

(Anybody that disagrees with that needs to examine their own honesty.)

So if you do something really stupid the only way to learn from it is receiving the worst possible punishment for it? I think a $10,000 lawyers bill, loss of license, and mandated classes can still teach someone a lesson.

I was arrested before for drunk driving, I got a lawyer, he did the best he could and the case was reduced to reckless driving. I've not broken that law since and will not ever again.

quote:

Our system assumes that between a zealous prosecutor and a zealous defense, the truth will out.

Seems to me that the truth has already come out in this case. She was driving while under the influence. Perhaps I am over sensitive to this issue of people driving on public roadways while under the influence of drugs/alcohol. But maybe some of those defending the woman in this case need to experience what drunk drivers can, and actually do, cause.

And those driving under the influence of drugs other than alcohol fall under the same category!

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by Cous2492:
No offense to the attorneys here, or the people who say to listen to the attorney....

But thats nonsense. If you mess up, own up. Period. Why drag it out?

(Anybody that disagrees with that needs to examine their own honesty.)

So if you do something really stupid the only way to learn from it is receiving the worst possible punishment for it? I think a $10,000 lawyers bill, loss of license, and mandated classes can still teach someone a lesson.

I was arrested before for drunk driving, I got a lawyer, he did the best he could and the case was reduced to reckless driving. I've not broken that law since and will not ever again.

No, not receive the worst possible punishment. A guilty plea does not equal maximum sentence.

So many hypocrites always willing to throw someone under the bus. 95+% of us have done it at one time or another. The worst ones are the public officials who get busted for it while making new laws against it. There's WAY more evil being in that way of life than being someone driving over the legal limit. I've known public officials willing to throw people under the bus because they said the other person had too many beers, while having had convictions themselves. It's just a game of misdirection. Don't look at me, look at the other guy.

quote:

Originally posted by OpenRoad:
So many hypocrites always willing to throw someone under the bus. 95+% of us have done it at one time or another.

Bullshit.
You sound like a drunk trying to defend being a drunk.
And it's our fault.

Might as well compare drunks that don't kill while driving drunk, well that's OK as they haven't killed anyone while driving drunk. Yet.

I've been hit by a fucking drunk.
My wife's grandad was put in a coma and 2 years physical recovery from a worthless drunk that hit him head on.
I have no use for a drunk.

quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:

quote:

Originally posted by OpenRoad:
So many hypocrites always willing to throw someone under the bus. 95+% of us have done it at one time or another.

Bullshit.
You sound like a drunk trying to defend being a drunk.

And I'm sure you're never done anything else either. I'm not religious, but I guess you're the one to cast the first stone.

quote:

Originally posted by OpenRoad:

quote:

Originally posted by ScreamingCockatoo:

quote:

Originally posted by OpenRoad:
So many hypocrites always willing to throw someone under the bus. 95+% of us have done it at one time or another.

Bullshit.
You sound like a drunk trying to defend being a drunk.

And I'm sure you're never done anything else either. I'm not religious, but I guess you're the one to cast the first stone.

Do you know this man? I do. He is one of the rare few who lives his life guided by the principle: Do The Right Thing.

This is not aimed at any individual who has posted in this thread.

Until you have to stand in the ER holding your child's hand while she sobs that she did nothing wrong, or sleep on the floor of the ICU waiting room for 3 weeks while the doctors are working overtime to keep her alive (and she actually died twice) while there. She was on a breathing tube due to damage to her face and could not talk. She communicated by scribbling notes.

She wrote about how nice it was "on the other side" and how she hated to come back. Her German grandfather, who she worshipped and who had died a few months earlier, appeared to her and told her she had to fight because if she gave up and died, the shock would kill her grandmother. So, she fought back.

Perhaps those who have not had such experiences go through what we went through, they will understand our feelings about drunk drivers.

And to address my comment about lawyers, our family lawyer at the time of our daughter's experience was defending "social drinking" as a normal part of life. But it was not his daughter in the ICU. Perhaps he would have changed his mind had it been his daughter.

And with that, I am out of here.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:


So if you do something really stupid the only way to learn from it is receiving the worst possible punishment for it? I think a $10,000 lawyers bill, loss of license, and mandated classes can still teach someone a lesson.

I was arrested before for drunk driving, I got a lawyer, he did the best he could and the case was reduced to reckless driving. I've not broken that law since and will not ever again.

Well , that POS that nearly killed my wife didn't get it after DWI number 1-2-3-4 , so he committed number 5 . The Courts were gracious enough to disallow numbers 3 and 4 because they happened so long ago . He was convicted of 3rd offense in our situation . Credit for time served since he was unable to bond out , and a fine . NO mandatory treatment , no restitution since he didn't have a job or any assets . Damn right I'm bitter . Sorry MF should have been rotting in Angola Penitentiary instead of driving around that day .