Is mass murderer using the "laura bush defense"??

I'm speaking of that guy out in santa monica who drove his car into a farmers market on wednesday. The death toll is now 10 with dozens seriously injured. A clear-cut case of vehicular manslaughter. Yet according to this article, the state is debating whether to charge him with anything!!! That sounds crazy but maybe the guy is saying "hey, our precious first lady once killed someone by reckless driving in front of witnesses and was never charged so why me?"

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=519&e=5&u=/ap/20030718/ap_on_re_us/market_accident

maybe it's because of his age? (On edit) He should be charged though. People were killed, including children.

The old guy really blew it......big time. But I am fairly certain there was no intention.....just incompetence. Should he do time?

I feel so bad because there is such a backlash against all older drivers....... and to start a dialogue about age limits for driver's licenses is a sad state of affairs. A LOT of older people have it together......for a good long time......

Manslaughter is killing someone without intent but thru recklessness. Like when laura raced thru that stop sign. That was a classic case of manslaughter or negligent homicide which is pretty much the same. Lots of people go to prison for that, as they should, but now that we have a first lady that got away with it, it's tough to lock up others for the same thing she did.

Really? And here I though we still had that pesky presumption of innocence. :eyes:

Do you know the elements of manslaughter in CA? And what evidence has been gathered to actually prove in a court of law that those elements are met? And please remember, the burden is beyond a reasonable doubt. Have the police already completed their investigation? Dang that was fast.

And if in your opinion he is guilty of manslaughter, why call him a mass murderer? Pretty harsh.

Of course he's guilty. Just like laura was unquestionably guilty. They both belong in prison. That's a 2 + 2 is 4.

You also said there is no intent element required for manslaughter. Do you KNOW that this is the case in CA (no speculating please, give me facts)? Please see the following definition of Texas law as it relates to manslaughter and the requisite inten for the crime:

"The culpable mental state for manslaughter, recklessness, is defined as follows: A person acts recklessly, or is reckless, with respect to circumstances surrounding his conduct or the result of his conduct when he is aware of but consciously disregards a substantial and unjustifiable risk that the circumstances exist or the result will occur. The risk must be of such a nature and degree that its disregard constitutes a gross deviation from the standard of care that an ordinary person would exercise under all the circumstances as viewed from the actor's standpoint."

Gosh. I'd hate to think that Texas has a more defined justice system than that liberal bastion of CA.

Please also remember that there are specific definitions for these terms in the law. When "recklessness" is used in connection with a criminal charge, it does not mean the common or vernacular definition of the word.

"Of course he's guilty." Whew. So glad you cleared that up for us. And I hope that you are treated just as fairly by our justice system if you should ever have the misfortune of being charged with a crime. But again, I guess that pesky presumption of innocence is just too bothersome for some on this board.

Sorry, but I expect the hang em first mentality from the RW. Just never expected to run into it here too.

You're just making stuff up now. But i do think that anyone who KILLS someone thru bad driving should do at least a few years. How can anyone argue with that??? My gawd - this is a country with 2 million people in prison right now and half of them for drug "crimes". But people want this highway killer to go free.!!

who thinks that it's pointless to send a man who's over 80 years old to prison for a stupid mistake. I figured that the people here were more forgiving than that. This man obviously should have been under the care of his children, or a nursing home, the last thing we need to do is send him to prison. People died, yeah it's sad, but sending this guy to jail isn't going to make it better. All it will do is make the last years of his life a living hell. Revenge is a very freeperish reaction if you ask me.

Tool fan, I presume?

Welcome to DU! :hi:

People need to be held responsible, esp when they're driving a 4000 pound hunk of steel. You can't tell drivers that there will be no consequences if their carelessness kills someone.

I'm afraid there is no way around that, whether he goes to prison or not. This is just a horrible story, for all involved. But I doubt that Laura Bush is in anyone's mind right now.