Court TV Drag Racing Trial
 

Right now on Court TV they're showing live coverage from San Diego, CA on two guys who were drag racing and killed 2 innocent bystander/drivers. Very interesting....and sad.

http://www.courttv.com/trials/dragrace/

i say charge them with murder! they had complete awareness and control of themselves. hope they get life!

James

I wouldnt give them life. They didnt set out to murder anyone, that is clearly Manslaughter and not murder 1 or 2. Im sure 80% of us have made a bad mistake and raced on the street plenty of times. 87mph is fast, but the freeways reguarly move at that speed around here. Too bad those people died, but it shows how much safer you are in a big car.

Skyler

Michigan has a specific statute that deals with this scenario exactly. It states:

750.324 Negligent homicide; penalty. [M.S.A. 28.556 ]
Sec. 324. Any person who, by the operation of any vehicle upon any highway or upon any other property, public or private, at an immoderate rate of speed or in a careless, reckless or negligent manner, but not wilfully or wantonly, shall cause the death of another, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, punishable by imprisonment in the state prison not more than 2 years or by a fine of not more than $2,000.00, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

History: 1931, Act 328, Eff. Sept. 18, 1931 ;--CL 1948, 750.325 ;--Am. 1965, Act 38, Eff. Mar. 31, 1966 .

Former Law: See section 2 of Act 98 of 1921, being CL 1929, § 16744.


The penalty may be a little too light but the law's 40 years old.

What would be interesting to know is if the people who were killd were following all the rules and traffic laws at the time too.

Skyler

There was a witness who saw the crash in his rear-view mirror. He took the same corner as the car that was hit and watched the whole thing in his mirror after realizing how fast the 2 coming at him were going. He testified they didn't do anything wrong/illegal.

So who turned in front opf whom?
 

Not too sure I understand the scenerio. Did the Geo turn in front of the drag racers? Turning in front of speeding cars is suicidal IMHO. Not to rag on srv1, but these fatalities did bring some of this on. I know my comments won't be popular.

Rev

Yes. The Geo turned in front of 2 cars racing 87+mph in a 45mph zone.

GOTTA PAY ATTENTION! Turning in front of any car puts some responsiblity on yourself. I was thinking they came around a corner and one of the cars was racing on the wrong side of the street.

Skyler

Sad story. (That's all I'm really gonna say).

20LbsBoost, if you keep up with the story, if possible, can you post the verdict to the case in the future. Thanks.

Yup, sure will. I'll post the verdict here which will put this thread back up top.

Speeding is one thing, reckless driving is another. They were going WAY over the speed limit. They KNEW they were breaking laws, so with that in mind, they knew the consequences. Next time i will go 42 miles over the speed limit and hit someone by accident, even though i know it was at a dangerous speed, knowingly breaking the law and also putting my life and others at risk. I should get a hefty fine and a light sentence. PLEAASE!

They should get life. There is a difference between a highway 65-85 and a 30-45mph zone. They had no intent of killing or hurting anyone, but when you are speeding dangerously, your intent of innocents goes out the window.

I hope they like being someones b itch!

James

same as drunk driving in my mind what if they had kids in the back seat and what if they were mine ??

they wouldnt have to wait for the jury

i street race but in a deserted area and there are no cross streets but ive shut down because of approching cars.

do the crime do the time.

it would also be like a armed bank robber who set out to rob the bank not to kill the gaurd.

So?
 

Then if anyone is speeding, (by whatever amount) , if there is an accident involving a fatality, they should get life? Nope, not in my book. If you jump onto the tracks in the subway of NYC, if you slam on your brakes in front of an 18 wheeler, if you turn in front of speeding cars, then you will most likely die. At least, that's my take. BTW, anyone know what the final verdict was?

Rev

The amount of negligence would determine the amount of criminal culpability.

As a point of law, when you violate traffic law you lose your "right of way". In this case, the drag racers have NO right of way due to their criminal actions, thus bear criminal responsibility for the tragic outcome.

This trial is actually a slam dunk. The only question is how much prison time to sentence the defendants.

No one has it, some lose it
 

As I understand it, no one ever actually "owns" the right of way. Some are required to "yield" the right of way according to law (varies between states). Failure to yield can void your rights in some instances. Not always a "slam dunk".

There's also the question of "failure to keep a proper look out", and oh yeah, "who had the last chance to avoid the accident".

So much for "slam dunks".

Rev

It does here.

If someone's lawfully proceeding in a travel lane obeying all laws and someone hits them, you can bet your bottom line it'll be the other driver's fault (unless driver #1 is unlicensed).

Lawful?
 

Lawfully proceding are "key words", I would think. Turning in front of someone is not lawful around my neck of the woods.

Rev

It is unless they "failed to yield the right of way" and unlawfully hit someone. The driver of the Neon was conducting herself in a lawful manner whereas the other drivers were not. A reasonable and prudent person wouldn't expect oncoming vehicles to be traveling 80+mph, or be expected to judge the speed of such vehicles before making the lawful turn.

A comparison has been made regarding the same scenario and a drunk driver. If the Neon turned in front of a vehicle traveling 45mph but operated by a drunk it would still be the drunk's fault. Agree or not it's what happens in the real world.

How different would it be if the person was plain speeding and not racing?

Skyler

Well said 20lbs.

I dont understand why some of you are actually against these two criminal charges. He was RACING and KILLED innocent people. Then you are trying to justify that they should get a lessor sentence since it wasnt premeditated? Come on! They used their car as a weapon. If I had a gun and it ACCIDENTALLY went off and killed someone, guess what would happen to me.

Hope those SOB's get life like I stated before:mad:

James

Well, criminal culpability depends on the amount of negligence.

Last year I responded to a true "accident" where an 18 yr old girl turned left from a store out onto a main road and in front of a motorcyclist. The bike had just turned onto the road from an intersecting road following another vehicle. He then abruptly changed lanes and accelerated past the lead vehicle when the girl pulled onto the road. She didn't see the bike whatsoever due to the lead vehicle blocking her view. The speed limit was 50mph and he was going that fast if not faster. It was an accident in the true sense of the word. The cyclist died. I was one of the few people he set eyes on before he passed. He was 23 and had just gotten engaged. I say this because in my opinion it really wasn't anyone's "fault" but the prosecutors saw it differently. They charged her with Neglegent Homicide to which she plead guilty. The letter of the law said she "failed to yield the right of way" which made her criminally responsible. Justice wasn't served and nobody came out on top.

I don't think anyone's trying to dispute the charges or justify anything here, James.

There's no disputing that the people racing are in the wrong (they were breaking the law), and because of their actions, someone lost their life (partially due to the fact that he/she failed to yield to the oncoming, all-be-it speeding, motorists). That's tragic.

However, there is a reason for the scaling of punishments for illeagal actions. Let's say I was chopping down a tree with an ax and you were standing beside the tree. If I'm in the middle of a swing and you slip and put you hand out to catch yourself against the tree, and I chop it off with my ax, that is truly tragic. However it is unlikely there will be criminal charges. On the other hand, if I tie you with nylon rope to the tree and I take my ax and chop your hand off, I will probably go to jail. The end is the same, but the means is different.

In the case of the street racers, there will be consequences to pay because laws were broken. No one is denying that. However, it will be in scale to the amount of criminal intent and negligence that is involved.

Hate to hear this kind of story. Everyone loses, especially the families of those involved. And that story of the girl and the motorcycle: that is truly tragic for all concerned.

--nathan