Laughter over death leads to longer sentence

Source: msnbc

TUCSON, Arizona - A judge sentenced a woman to nearly the maximum prison term for negligent homicide after hearing a recorded jail conversation in which she made light of the cyclist she killed.

Melissa Arrington, 27, was convicted two months ago of negligent homicide and two counts of aggravated drink-driving in connection with the December 2006 death of Paul L'Ecuyer.

She could have received as few as four years behind bars, but Superior Court Judge Michael Cruikshank sentenced her Tuesday to 10 1/2 years — one year shy of the maximum.
.......snip.....
During the conversation, the man told Arrington that an acquaintance believed she should get a medal and a parade because she had "taken out" a "tree hugger, a bicyclist, a Frenchman and a gay guy all in one shot."
Arrington laughed. When the man said he knew it was a terrible thing to say, she responded, "No, it's not."



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22818852/

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Damn-- as jaded as I am, this stuff still surprises me sometimes.

We need to have permanent bans of driving for people in this country. Driving is a privilege and not a right.

so not sure what good a ban would do.

i'm thinking life without parole.

This line-"She had been driving on a suspended license for a prior drink-drive conviction."-sums it up.

Like little -bitty Nazi Stromtroopers dressed in pink swatiskas. Just so...huggable.

:puke:

THIS is what we face, THIS is what rules our nation and THIS is what will be coming for us after just a round or two more of Bushie Shock Treatment.

At least the judge gave her the extra time for it. In another generation, he might agree with her.

More republicon homelander Konservative Kompassion, in the style of Commander AWOL and sidekick VP Dickie "Five Military Deferments" Cheney

http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/158782.php

Yet unlike most Republicans- or callous people in general, at least she has a bit of time to think about things....

Unfortunately, some of them are on the Supreme Court.

http://www.azstarnet.com.nyud.net:8090/ss/2006/12/03/158782-1.jpg

DUI suspect hits, kills bicyclist
By Patty Machelor and Alexis Huicochea
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 12.03.2006

A Tucson woman who pleaded guilty to driving under the influence of alcohol earlier this year is now facing a second-degree murder charge in the death of a bicyclist Friday night.

Melissa Marie Arrington, 26, was driving south in the 12600 block of Old Spanish Trail when her Chevy pickup hit Paul Amedee L'Ecuyer, said Pima County sheriff's spokeswoman Deputy Dawn Barkman.

Arrington is suspected of driving under the influence of alcohol, Barkman said. She is being held at the Pima County jail.

A preliminary breath test indicated that Arrington's blood alcohol content was 0.128, said sheriff's Lt. Karl Woolridge. The legal limit in Arizona is 0.08. A blood test was also conducted, and the results are pending.
L'Ecuyer, 45, was a longtime Tucsonan who recently participated in El Tour de Tucson and used his bike as his primary mode of transportation.

More:
http://www.azstarnet.com/altds/pastframe/metro/158782

after all the rest of us buy/bought what they tell us too.

in other words "tree-hugger" "French" "gay" etc. are not her invented words, but what we/society have taught her.

her picture invokes more pity than rage in me.

remember we/america are the cruelest country in the world today and a democracy
so *we* are not just bystanders either.

:mad: Go lecture your mirror! :mad:

She made a choice to drive drunk, and perhaps another choice to run this guy over. And she certainly wasn't remorseful.

Look, living in a free society means people are free to think whatever dumb-ass thing they want. You can't police thoughts. And as much as any nation may try to promote goodwill among its people, there will always be Yahoos who choose to think like this.
She ran someone over, while drunk, with a suspended license, and LAUGHED at his death. No, I don't feel any responsibility for what she did at all.

People may indeed think (or even speak) as they bloody well wish. But the very moment their thoughts/words translate into definable and unreasonable harm others, society should and must respond with a steel cap to the teeth or society becomes an instrument of the "privileged" and of oppression.

"I didn't do it", doesn't mean jack shit, if "I didn't do anything to stop it." is also true.

This thread is all about society "responding with a steel cap to the teeth" for thoughts translated into action. I don't feel sorry for her or responsible for her, and I sure as hell would like to see her punished for what she did. Put me in whatever of your goofy categories you want-- and I'll lump you in with the group that would rather throw ad hominems instead of hold an actual conversation.

...degree of responsibility for her, then you are effectively abdicating responsibility for the society that created her as well. Even if you cheer, as for once in a way, society feeds her her own teeth.

The United States and its people pride themselves on certain very wonderful qualities, but the truth is as they say in the pudding and the sad truth is that those qualities are almost entirely lacking in reality, and have been missing for much of its history.

The ideas of personal responsibility and rugged individuality are not in any way ideals of a compassionate society, they are symptoms of an anarchy in which the more powerful prosper at the expense of the weaker.

And that is "we" saying "you had a range of choices; many of us would have preferred that you take other choices. You made bad choices instead. Now you must be punished."

The fact of the matter is that she was given a fair trial in the interests of serving justice. There is still an opportunity to show compassion, but showing compassion absolutely does not mean she gets a reduced sentence, if that's what you are saying.

And another thing: what about the family of this gay French cyclist??? ARE they supposed to just kind of forgive and forget???

Even in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve chose poorly, and they were punished. Maybe God should have been more compassionate? :eyes:

is not drink and drive! Who's "the rest of us"? That's quite the stretch to suggest the society at large is responsible for this homicidal heartless psychopath.

If you didn't learn your lesson from the first dui and have a laugh at your victim's death on your second dui, then buh-bye!

Don't let the comments make you feel bad, some will get what you are saying. Its been particularly nasty lately and I for one sure haven't been spending much time here these days.

Welcome to DU at any rate!

:hug:

Nobody I know ever bought into that bullshit, so yeah--I'm going to be hard on her.

What a hideously lame excuse.

"in other words "tree-hugger" "French" "gay" etc. are not her invented words, but what we/society have taught her"

Arguably, that may be the case. However, we have every opportunity to reject those concepts, also. Her bigotry was a fait-accompli the day she decided (whether consciously or not) not to reject those concepts.

Although we may or may not be responsible for what we learn, we are indeed responsible for what we un-learn and reject.

stupid shit in her head and others heads.

Give credit where credit is due.

because it's obvious the alcohol took over by the time she was about 13.

Total waste of oxygen. Sadly, she's got a lot of company out there.

:thumbsup:

:P

...figuratively speaking.

She saw a cyclist and ran him down with her pickup. WIth her being drunk proving first degree with hate crime modifier would be difficult so they no doubt suspected she took the opportunity to run a person down, because of her bigotry. All they needed to do was imply that she had the intent to cause harm to someone like the victim. Lack of remorse is a great way to show the judge that you are a danger to society and need the maximum. Obviously this witch is a danger to society.

As a pedestrian in Portland, I saw things that I never would have noticed as a driver. One was drivers deliberately trying to run cyclists off the street or tailgating them and honking.

Having seen that, I will not cycle on a busy street. There are too many drivers who are so besotted with their cars that they consider all users of alternative transportation to be a threat. In the city, there's always a parallel side street, and that's what I use.

I am surprised how Portland is viewed as 'Bike Friendly', given that most thoroughfares have only EXTREMELY narrow and unprotected bike lanes, mere feet from persnickety drivers who possess 'nominal' personality traits .... (IF bike lanes exist at all) ..... Yeah: Lake O and Waterfront areas have great bike paths, but the streets themselves are stark and exposed ....

The bike lanes in Southern California tend to be wider, and buffered at least with a painted island ....

I realize how easy it is for a vehicle to clip a cyclist. (My son's best friend was almost killed that way -- thank goodness for helmets!) That thought is at the forefront of my mind every second I'm on a bike.

It's always disappointing to find I belong to yet another group that oppressed people don't mind oppressing. :(

Rather than "witch".

Most witches I met are cool...and are rather nice...

I was thinking of the fictitious Wizard of Oz wicked kind....

Thanks!

I have watched "charmed".

}(

:hug:

You are so right.

really hate cyclists that much in the USA???? do they hate people that play baseball too now?

:(

http://thatslifeinthecity.blogspot.com/2007/06/court-to-reconsider-verdict-in-dog.html

I will never forgive those heartless fuckers. I cry everytime I think about Di's death.

I couldn't believe the depravity of the dog owners. I'm so sorry for your loss.

the extended sentence was just. Some people laugh about death when they're nervous. Some people laugh about it when they're sociopaths and ought to be kept off the streets forever.

considering someone else made the comment and she may have felt obligated to laugh to even have someone to talk to in a terrible situation

i'm sure the streets are safer without her, but we either believe alcholism is a disease or we don't

you don't punish people for having a disease

She was not just laughing at someone else's comments. She verbally stated agreement with the vile comment and laughed, according to her own words.

however, putting someone in prison for years for making or laughing at a joke is not what america stands for

putting someone in prison for having a disease, which we supposedly believe alcoholism to be, is what america stands for, sadly,we have all learned that having any mental illness is to be fiercely punished rather than treated in our society, but nonetheless it's pretty obvious this lady is ill, do you honestly belive she had control over her actions or over alcohol, while the only way to keep people safe may be to keep her caged, that is not what the judge says, the judge says the max was given over a JOKE and made a point of being offended by a joke which by the way wouldn't have been repeated if they hadn't been spying on her phone calls


if you think a joke, however cruel, is a worse sin than killing a person than i don't know about you and i sure don't know about this judge -- i'm not even sure the joke is worse than the spying

there aren't any heroes in this story, it sounds like everyone involved behaved badly (except the victim) but at least the young woman had the excuse for being a piece of trash that she's in the grips of a ferocious all-consuming disease, a disease from which most victims never recover -- even with AA isn't it true that only 10% of alcoholics ever beat it?

what is the judge's excuse for being a piece of trash?

the judge could have made it about the victim or about the repeated violations of DUI/driving laws instead of about an offensive JOKE

for her own actions. As such, it is much more likely that she would repeat those actions yet again, and is a blatant danger to everyone on the road. Showing remorse, or the lack thereof is acceptable when determining sentences, and is also a factor for parole, the fact is that this woman has no conscience whatsoever, why excuse that?

sounds like Murder One to me. :eyes:

Alcoholism is a disease, but you can drink all you want. Alcohol is legal.
It's when you decide to drive, you might have a problem, especially if you kill someone while driving drunk.

And I think what the judge did was totally out of line.

To me, it sounded like a scared person agreeing with whatever was said to her without any thought or emotion. Personally, I think the judge was wrong if in fact he used this conversation as a sentencing factor. However, a severe sentence is justified based on the crime itself...

I didn't even give consideration to tone, inflection, context etc. as you mentioned. Time for me to sheepishly put away my pitchfork and let calmer heads prevail.

I laughed a wedding and I've laughed at a funeral. I used to work in a Cancer treatment Center, and we laughed at some things that would sound so callous, so unfeeling, so cruel to anyone outside the medical field-- but it was how we coped: laugh or cry, our choice.

I've had other drivers here flip me the bird, key my car, puncture my tires and try to run me off the road, all for simply having liberal bumper stickers.

In Connecticut, nothing ever happened, apart from the occasional "I like your stickers".

Lots of knuckle-draggers here in Arizona. I'm not surprised Bush won AZ in 2004 by a greater margin than in 2000.

I saw a TON of pissed off people on that ride. Granted the pack of cyclists was miles long. However seeing the endless lines of paralysed cars stopped for us was something else. I saw people having total fits in their cages.

I can't figure out what they were so pissed about. Its not like they didn't know El Tour was going to happen or what it would be like. They should have planned their day accordingly. If they think one day of disruptions is bad, I invite them to live in Wrigglyville during baseball season if they want to see that a disruption is really like. What a bunch of babies.

that many americans are out of shape. but wanting to kill someone because they practice the sport of bike ridng....

But then, why should the tree suffer?

She's a fucking menace to society - figures, the conservative murderer.

again

What the FUCK is wrong with people?

Where the FUCK do people learn to hate strangers?

That's the whole idea behind partisan politics.

I'm not approving it or condemning it. Xenophobia is a deeply ingrained human trait dating from prehistoric days when humans were tribal creatures. If you didn't hate other tribes, you didn't live to have children.

There is no way to dress this pig up. The answer is to work to diminish tribalism. In modern times, that means identity groups must go. I'm not holding my breath.

If she wanted to throw the book at her for the crash & DWI alone, fine. But unless the driver was going "yah, no kidding! I really took him out, huh? High five me!" it's wrong to penalize someone for not having the reaction you want them to.

All she was doing was displaying gallows humor. She didn't sound particularly pleased with herself. If this phone call was the only thing the judge used to decide chica had no remorse, this should get tossed.

We turn on our televisions and our radios and we hear Hannity and Beck and Coulter and Goldberg say this shit on the air every fucking day, so why should it be shocking that someone in the general populace would repeat it?

She wasn't a blotto alky in need of our sympathies at the time of the accident. She was a reckless bitch with an attitude that seemed to worsen as she sobered up. She didn't care a bit about the wonderful innocent human she ran into. Society needs to be protected from her.

Almost twice the legal limit.

Nevermind.

to laugh her ass off in jail.

It doesn't surprise me. I've nearly been hit dozens of times even in bike-friendly Tempe. Between the generally shitty driving skills of these dillweeds in their Earth-raping Maibatsu Monstrosities, their disdain for anyone not in a car, and their utter inability to pay attention to anything besides the supersize McDysentery Combo Meal on their laps and the cell phones growing out of their ears like wild fungi...it's a miracle I'm still alive.

I won't even get into the number of drunks on the road, I swear there are more here than anywhere else in America.

I actually prefer the drivers in NY, as batshit as they are.