What a waste..

**Mr. iNCREDIBLE** · 10-05-2009, 03:49 PM

what a waste of a life,

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktl...,3311427.story

My first wife was killed by a DUI, run off the road at the 605 south the 91 east interchange in Norwalk, her car flipped several times and she died instantly of a broken neck. October 7 will be the 8th anniversary of her death.

I was with Kat for over 7 years, we married on the 7th year anniversary of our first date, a week after she graduated from Cal State Fullerton. 4 months later I lost her to a DUI because of the complete lack of sense and responsibility of some retarded moron that had a BAC well over 2x's the legal limit.

I have no sympathy or sorrow for ANYONE that gets behind the wheel of a car while intoxicated, especially an under age, unlicensed kid.

**GasGunR** · 10-05-2009, 04:08 PM

Sorry for your loss Marc, but in this instance, you and I disagree.

I can see no point in sentencing a teenager to a possibility of life in prison for this. Nothing will bring back the young lady, no matter how stiff the sentence, and I'll take bets that this one is overturned up the food chain as cruel and unusual especially in California, where people get much shorter sentences for killing multiple people with firearms, even premeditated.

Driving under the influence is bad, killing someone while doing it is terrible. An adult with a couple / few DUIs under their belt that kills someone? Sure throw the book at them. A teenager? A couple of years and a felony conviction will ruin his life.

**Mr. iNCREDIBLE** · 10-05-2009, 04:18 PM

Originally Posted by GasGunR

Sorry for your loss Marc, but in this instance, you and I disagree.

I can see no point in sentencing a teenager to a possibility of life in prison for this. Nothing will bring back the young lady, no matter how stiff the sentence, and I'll take bets that this one is overturned up the food chain as cruel and unusual especially in California, where people get much shorter sentences for killing multiple people with firearms, even premeditated.

Driving under the influence is bad, killing someone while doing it is terrible. An adult with a couple / few DUIs under their belt that kills someone? Sure throw the book at them. A teenager? A couple of years and a felony conviction will ruin his life.

oh sorry I was referring to the young lady that died as a result of this kids actions (that's what I meant by waste of a life).

I was a little irritated when I posted, so I wasn't clear.

I agree that a life sentence for his actions is grossly over-kill. it only serves to put a burden on the tax payers to "care" for him for the rest of his life.

(oh and in CA there is no "possibility" of life, 15 to life here means Life, though he will be eligible for parole after approx 21 years (has to serve minimum of 85% of the 15 years and then 7 years for the "life" term) he won't get parole, CA doesn't release "Lifers" on parole, they just continue to remand them to another 7 years (parole hearing for lifer is every 7 years after the initial sentence is served).

There is an unwritten law on the books here that no one sentenced to life will ever be released on parole (no money in it for the CA Dept of Corrections Union if they get released you know)

**Sevenernine** · 10-05-2009, 04:20 PM

Originally Posted by GasGunR

Sorry for your loss Marc, but in this instance, you and I disagree.

I can see no point in sentencing a teenager to a possibility of life in prison for this. Nothing will bring back the young lady, no matter how stiff the sentence, and I'll take bets that this one is overturned up the food chain as cruel and unusual especially in California, where people get much shorter sentences for killing multiple people with firearms, even premeditated.

Driving under the influence is bad, killing someone while doing it is terrible. An adult with a couple / few DUIs under their belt that kills someone? Sure throw the book at them. A teenager? A couple of years and a felony conviction will ruin his life.

Yeah, I agree.

Nothing they do is going to bring her back; not saying that makes it easier, but why waste two lives?

Odds are, this kid won't make the same mistake again.

Sucks to hear about it, though.

Sorry about your wife, too. I know like 3-4 people from my home town (2300 people) that've died in the last year or so of drinking (and/or texting) related accidents.

I won't sit here and lie to you and say I don't drink and drive, 'cause occasionally I'll drive home from the bar. But I'm not $hitfaced, and I drive side-streets that are usually 20 mph. So even in my worst case scenario of me wrecking, I'll take out a mailbox and a parked car at worst.

**JarZ** · 10-05-2009, 04:22 PM

The limit should be 0.0. No tolerance.

Sorry for your loss, Marc. I have no sympathy for anyone who drinks and drives. My dad used to do it with my sister and me in the car... back then it was "cool" to be able to drive the car home after 12 beers. Thankfully he didn't get into an accident but he very well could have. It's so irresponsible.

**Prospector** · 10-05-2009, 04:28 PM

So sorry for your loss.

As the article stated, this is a terrible tragedy... A young women's life is gone and so are the lives of her children and grand children and so on... Think of all the lives that this lost has changed.

Of course the young man's life is changed as well (although,he probably will be released someday), what good accomplishments might he have achieved if not for this fateful night and poor decision on his part.

**Mr. iNCREDIBLE** · 10-05-2009, 04:30 PM

personally I think the DUI laws are out of whack..

this kid kills his Girlfriend and gets a life term, others kill an innocent family in another vehicle and get "maybe" a couple of years.

I've read about it many times, a lot of it has to do with the area in which the accident occurred, Newport Beach/Costa Mesa where this occurred is a very wealthy and affluent area, had this occurred in say Downtown L.A. I would bet my last dollar he would have only gotten 3-5 years.

The Controller for the company I work for has served on 3 DUI Jury's in the Newport Beach Court (where this kid was sentenced) and in all cases the "accused" was sentenced to the full maximum sentence allowed by law (hard ass Judges) for the charges brought forth.

**Mr. iNCREDIBLE** · 10-05-2009, 04:32 PM

Originally Posted by Prospector

So sorry for your loss.

As the article stated, this is a terrible tragedy... A young women's life is gone and so are the lives of her children and grand children and so on... Think of all the lives that this lost has changed.

Of course the young man's life is changed as well (although,he probably will be released someday), what good accomplishments might he have achieved if not for this fateful night and poor decision on his part.

he won't, this is CA read my post above, he was sentenced to life and since 1974 only one "Lifer" has been granted parole in CA, and he was remanded back to custody within 2 weeks for a parole violation.

and our nice Gov' Arnold has made several statements to tune of no lifer will get parole on his watch.

**JonW** · 10-05-2009, 04:38 PM

My wife and I discussed this story just yesterday with our daughters. There's more to the story than Marc's link has.

The DUI driver was going to drive 3 other people home as well. Those 3 refused to drive home with him because of his intoxication and instead begged him to not drive. The fourth person (the girl that died) went with him because she wasn't supposed to be out that evening at all and she needed to get home before her parents did.

So, not only did the DUI driver make very bad decisions, so did the girl - and that was the lesson we were conveying to our kids.

**Mr. iNCREDIBLE** · 10-05-2009, 04:39 PM

Originally Posted by JonW

My wife and I discussed this story just yesterday with our daughters. There's more to the story than Marc's link has.

The DUI driver was going to drive 3 other people home as well. Those 3 refused to drive home with him because of his intoxication and instead begged him to not drive. The fourth person (the girl that died) went with him because she wasn't supposed to be out that evening at all and she needed to get home before her parents did.

So, not only did the DUI driver make very bad decisions, so did the girl - and that was the lesson we were conveying to our kids.

got a link to the rest of the story?

**JonW** · 10-05-2009, 04:44 PM

Originally Posted by Mr. iNCREDIBLE

got a link to the rest of the story?

The OC Register has had a few articles on it.
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/m...frazee-driving

**Mr. iNCREDIBLE** · 10-05-2009, 05:12 PM

so the witnesses point out that he knew he was drunk, he knew it was dangerous, and he still did it..

sigh..

perhaps then a life sentence is in order.

but on the flip side of that, the tax payers now have to take on the responsibility of caring for him for the rest of his life.

reading more about this kid thru several links on the OCregister, he was in juvenile court the day before the accident on driving without a license charges (with his parents), apparently the party and alcohol was at his parents home and he had his mothers car (and car keys apparently), so one has to wonder how the parents of a 16 year old (he was 16 at time of accident) allow him to proceed with these actions, (drinking and then driving) after having just appeared in court with him for a driving related charge.

the parents need to be tried as much as this kid, because it is their lack of responsibility and parenting that allowed this to occur, leaving a 16 year old unsupervised in a home with alcohol and access to a vehicle just hours after they were in court.

**8yourM5** · 10-05-2009, 06:36 PM

Originally Posted by GasGunR

Sorry for your loss Marc, but in this instance, you and I disagree.

I can see no point in sentencing a teenager to a possibility of life in prison for this. Nothing will bring back the young lady, no matter how stiff the sentence, and I'll take bets that this one is overturned up the food chain as cruel and unusual especially in California, where people get much shorter sentences for killing multiple people with firearms, even premeditated.

Driving under the influence is bad, killing someone while doing it is terrible. An adult with a couple / few DUIs under their belt that kills someone? Sure throw the book at them. A teenager? A couple of years and a felony conviction will ruin his life.

I have to disagree with you here man. I say make an exsample out of the kid. I really think we need much much much stricter DUI laws. I have lost to many friends to drinking and driving. Some of it was their own faults but most the time its the sober friends that hit hit by a DUI driver. I can name 20 people that drive DRUNK as hell every weekend.

I can name multipule people with 3 or more DUI's. Some people will never learn and its those people we need to throw in jail.

MR. I, I am so very sorry for your loss. I bet you think about it all the time and what life woudl be like now if that didnt happen. It very unfair to you and her family that the person took her away from are world.

**8yourM5** · 10-05-2009, 06:38 PM

Originally Posted by Mr. iNCREDIBLE

so the witnesses point out that he knew he was drunk, he knew it was dangerous, and he still did it..

sigh..

perhaps then a life sentence is in order.

but on the flip side of that, the tax payers now have to take on the responsibility of caring for him for the rest of his life.

reading more about this kid thru several links on the OCregister, he was in juvenile court the day before the accident on driving without a license charges (with his parents), apparently the party and alcohol was at his parents home and he had his mothers car (and car keys apparently), so one has to wonder how the parents of a 16 year old (he was 16 at time of accident) allow him to proceed with these actions, (drinking and then driving) after having just appeared in court with him for a driving related charge.

the parents need to be tried as much as this kid, because it is their lack of responsibility and parenting that allowed this to occur, leaving a 16 year old unsupervised in a home with alcohol and access to a vehicle just hours after they were in court.

AGREEED. in ca those parents would be SUED super quick. I am not the type of person that is sue happy, but in this case its just as much of the parents fualt as it is the kids. even more so if they provide the drinks