Driver gets 12 months for texting and driving,killing 2 people

My oh my, where to start with my thoughts here. I guess my first thought is the "PLEA BARGAIN." We see it all the time, sometimes justified, but mostly not. More on this later. . .

Uh what world do YOU live in? We have serial killers that never get the death penalty. We have states that have outlawed the death penalty, and other states that still have it on their books, but it is never sentenced.
And when someone IS sentenced to the death penalty, there are automatic appeals, and so much BS and garbage that the perp, (yeah, I actually DID use that term, ) Will die of old age in prison before being hooked up to "OLD SPARKY." (Of course OLD SPARKY has been long outlawed as being "cruel and unusual punishment) Is this a great country, or what?

As I've said before, Patty, there is no JUSTICE in the system. It is a legal system. Basically it is a great big game, and whoever plays the game the best, wins.

No, Patty, not murder. Criminal negligence, perhaps. Vehicular manslaughter, perhaps. But this is not murder. Merriam-Webster defines murder as follows:

If my memory is correct, Black's Law Dictionary uses a similar definition. (I guess Black's doesn't put out an online version, at least I couldn't find it, and my copy has been lost for years.)

Actually, there is more in this than you mention. District Attorney's campaign on their "record" or the number of cases won vs number of cases lost. So if there is even the smallest, obscure chance that a case may not be won by "The People," the DA is NOT going to prosecute it in court, unless it is a very high profile case. They count the plea bargains as "cases won," so they have definite advantages to go for a plea bargain.
Of course the perp, (dam, there's that word again. . .) is far better off with a plea bargain, than taking a chance on a jury trial. The defense attorney is better off, as it kicks him free to spend more time on other cases. The court itself is clearly better off, as our court system is terribly overloaded.
So really, the only people that lose in plea bargains, are you and I and every other person in this country that is NOT a "perp."

CRIMINAL. But not murder. Already asked and answered.

Agreed, but go back up my post a couple of paragraphs.

Not necessarily. Could very well have been an overworked Public Defender who was assigned the case by the court. Again, see my paragraph on plea bargains.

That or vehicular homicide.

The thing is, texting is AGAINST THE LAW in many, if not most jurisdictions any more. And if it isn't against the law, it is still a very dangerous and stupid thing to do. And when you are driving a big truck, you are putting one hell of a lot of people at risk.
You are right that texting is not the ONLY thing that leads to distraction. That is why some states have implemented a "Distracted Driving" law, rather than just a "Texting While Driving" law.
Believe me, it isn't going to matter to the dead person whether the driver was texting, picking his nose, or masturbating, that person is still just as dead.

No way can either texting or DUI be called murder, under our current legal system. My own opinion, is that somebody who has been convicted one or more previous times of DUI SHOULD be able to be charged with murder, but it just doesn't work that way.

To put it mildly, HORSE CRAP! Of course they are MENACES TO SOCIETY! There is a difference between a dumb mistake, and what is called "Depraved Indifference." A dumb mistake is doing something without knowing what the consequences could be, or a negligent act such as running a stop sign that you don't see. But when you deliberately make the decision to do something that you KNOW is very likely to cause people to be injured or killed, that is NOT a "dumb mistake."

 

yeah might have been the wrong wording, I was only trying to differentiate murder and situations like this, my point was, things like this were not done on purpose to harm people, yes it was a good chance of it happening when texting and driving, but he did not do it on purposely to hurt someone.

 

During the investigation, police obtained warrants for the truck driver’s cell phone history, which showed that he was involved in four separate text message exchanges in the MOMENTS BEFORE the crash...

Define a moment, websters says a moment is 90 seconds and the articles says the truck driver was texting MOMENTS BEFORE the crash... So in my opinion the D.A. Had no choice but to plea with the defendant, if not he would have walk free or he could have convicted him for texting while driving which probably carries $100 fine and no probation..

 

I mean the cause of the accident is more or less unrelated the big part is that his driving negligence took lives. That goes beyond texting and driving completely. Maybe a subsequent charge sure, but so minor they would probably dismiss it in lieu of a plea.

 

Understood and I agree 100%..

 

It kills me to see people point fingers and pass judgement so quickly and easily based on so much hearsay.

I see so many people texting and driving as they pass me. Mostly 4 wheelers,.. but truckers too. How many commenting in this thread are innocent of texting while driving?

This was an accident. Yes.. people were killed. Is the driver negligent? Abso-fricken-lutely! But murder? Seriously? Did he get off lightly? I'm not so sure.

A few other factors not mentioned,.. no doubt he will probably never hold a CDL again. Then there is the mental anguish of knowing you killed someone. If the driver had a spotless record, pillar of the community, never been in trouble etc and made one simple mistake,.. is it justifiable to give him the maximum penalty?

Stones and glass houses people. Judge not,.. least ye be judged.

Hurst

 

I agree with this. I'd rather see a society with no laws against texting while driving, or any cell phone use while driving, and no laws against DUI, no laws against distracted driving, no laws against driving while sleepy (HOS laws, etc.) but if you kill someone, you are held responsible for it no matter if it was intentional or not. If you made the choice to drive drunk, to drive distracted, or sleepy, or to drive on equipment that was hazardous, you made the choice not to check your steer tire pressure for the past few weeks and one is low and you have a blowout, etc, I don't see the difference between that and making the decision to kill someone.

Let people suffer the natural consequences of their actions, and see if people don't start policing their own behavior. I mean, how many people would drive drunk if their bud who got in an accident while drunk got the electric chair instead of getting a year in prison for DUI?

 

The thing here though, is that you have all these lawmakers and their stooges that need, I mean really NEED to feel superior to us "common folk!" They NEED to think that they are much smarter, and can determine how best everyone should live there lives.
I realized very early in my LE career, that it is all just a great big game.

 

Looks like wet road, lawyer probably made case using that. Still seems light knowing he was purposely distracted.