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DWI: Is It Murder?

August 2, 2009 4:55 PM

With DWI fatalities staying constant despite all the campaigns against the crime, some prosecutors are pursuing harsher penalties against perpetrators, including long prison terms for those who caused deaths. Bob Simon reports.

DWI Deaths: Is It Murder?
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by skudaarkaat December 31, 2010 1:17 PM EST
Are "defense" lawyers as insane and heartless as they look? May God damn the scum that defended that piece of filth that murdered that precious little girl. How can that heartless bastard defend him? That little girl will never grow up, fall in love, or give her parents grandchildren. If it happened to me, the drunk and the lawyer would be dead! Who would care.
And then bastard is appealing his sentence?????????????? I wish the little girl and the driver could appeal theirs!! TO HELL WITH DEFENSE LAWYERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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by slyanca December 15, 2010 5:33 PM EST
It is time that we stop rationalizing and making excuses for people who exercise poor judgment or deliberate malice. At one point or another this individual as many have, made the conscious decision to drink an excessive amount and then with his/her judgment impaired due to this previous decision made another bad decision to drive. No matter how you play it down or rationalize it, it's not rainbows and loly pops. He made the decision to drink, he wasn't intoxicated when he made this decision and he can't use the "I didn't know" defense because ignorance is not a defense. This is by all definitions is malice a fore-thought, as with murder. His actions knowingly and willingly caused the death of another human being.....its murder. Who really gets "life" I ask you him or the family?
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by livimckay October 8, 2010 5:26 PM EDT
Murder is murder. Killing is killing. That man killed an innocent little girl and the driver. He should get life in prison. The Flynn family has to live with the pain of losing their daughter everyday. The drunk driver should have to sit in his cell everyday and think of the pain he caused all of those people ALL because he was irresponsible.
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by Gibsonsg18 September 9, 2010 5:13 PM EDT
It is ridiculous to believe that a drunk driving accident is equivalent to murder.
Kathleen Rice states, "Anything that makes someone think... that's going to be a deterrent." This is not a deterrent to the case at hand nor others this severe because the driver was obviously beyond the point of thinking in any reasonable way. The man was driving on the wrong side of a parkway. Would it ever cross his mind, or the mind of others in that state of inebriation that the court will have a strong sentence for what I'm about to do?

Yes, the family deserves justice but this is too extreme.

There is no way that Ms. Rice believes this is equivalent to holding a gun to someone five feet away and shooting them. It is part of her political agenda and it is easy to single out a tragedy and feed upon it.

My sympathies for the family, I could not fathom such a tragedy, but altering laws for unconscious decisions should not continue.
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by jayreed1225 January 17, 2010 3:25 PM EST
Alcohol is a mind changing drug. When you take it you have not guarantee of where it will take you. Thank you Ms. Rice for shining more light on this matter.
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by ixlovexboobies November 12, 2009 12:19 PM EST
Wow Ok this is why people should NOT drink and drive. I am so sorry for the parents of Katie. She was such a cute little girl. And dad your are so right for wanting the guy to die. I do to. This story made me cry so much. :( If you are with someone that has had alcohol in their system do them and many others a favor and take them home yourself.
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by Notsheep August 9, 2009 7:06 PM EDT
What you seek is a risk free society. Driving or riding in a vehicle, motorcycle, airplane, boat, ship, bus, monorail or space shuttle involves risk. Eliminate the risk of alcohol and you still face poor judgment in many forms. Texting, cell phones, PMS or just some dumb schmuk who can't drive for what ever reason.. I too have lost friends to accidents. Alcohol involved in some, not in others. They are all just as dead, just as missed. How do you eliminate all risk? Stay home, bar the doors and don't eat any actual food as there is risk in that as well? Life is tough. There will be losses in a big operation. If DUI is such a henious crime, why are illegals routinely released when apprehended at the scene of an accident they caused when stinking drunk? Because they have no money? It's either that or the same government that is getting so tough on DUI's wants them here - and they know that they drink. They only care about being re-elected, tragicly using your losses as ammunition.
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by dugudr August 9, 2009 3:03 AM EDT
We need more effort into prevention. Drunkard make poor judgement, so why don't we make the party host to give alcohol test for people leaving or seems drunk? The DUI fine is too soft, we need ramp it up exponentially. They need to make payment equal to and separately to their monthly insurance to fight DUI so they can remember every time they pay the bill.
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by Collin1976 August 9, 2009 2:27 AM EDT
Way to harsh.. There are many different levels of drunk driving.. You could have a blood alcohol of .09 and some fool walks out into traffic and now your a murderer.. This guy was inebriated driving the wrong way down the freeway.. 10 years would have been good.
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by goodhumorman August 8, 2009 9:50 PM EDT
Anti-smoking fervor should be directed more toward alcohol than tobacco. It seems the devastation due to drinking far out-weighs the losses of smoking. Overdrinking leads to divorce, job-loss, liver failure, property destruction, vehicle fatalities, violent behavior...the list is endless.
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