Thursday, January 22, 2004
np: the minus 5 - down with wilco
over at daily kos there is a great commentary by meteor blades about the bill janklow sentencing today in south dakota.
for those of you who didn't follow this one, janklow (R - SD) ran a stop sign last year, hitting a motorcyclist and killing him. he was convicted of second degree manslaughter, reckless driving and a few other minor offenses. janklow's lawyers argued that janklow, a diabetic, had not eaten in eighteen hours and was disoriented and confused, thus the accident. to some extent the jury bought it, but they also said, doesn't matter. janklow was aware of his condition and should have taken precautions. not to mention the other witnesses brought in to testify about janklow's previous driving indiscretions, including a woman who says janklow nearly hit her at the same intersection once.
so what we seem to have is a case of negligent driving, disregard for speed laws and a subsequent, useless death. what should we say? 5? 10 years?
try 100 days and some fines.
if you read the post on dailk kos, you'll note that south dakota is not usually this light on crimes of this nature. those of you who know me at all are fully aware of my opinions on driving injuries/deaths, especially drunk ones. janklow wasn't drunk, but it was reckless and stupid. and someone died as a result.
i think it is very safe to say that today, american justice failed. i'm feeling sick.
