Monday, April 5, 2010

Best Legal System In The World, But ...

The United States legal system is touted as the best in the world. But times like these make you wonder just WTF is so wrong that could let this happen ...

This has been all over the news in the DFW area, I don't know if it has made it national yet.

A car crash on I-35 in Lewisville, TX at 2:00am this past Sunday morning tore a family apart. Candace Hull, mother, and driver of the family sedan, died on the road. Her 13 year old daughter died at the hospital a couple of hours later. Anthony Hull, her husband, and two children of 12 and 16 years remain in the hospital.

The driver of the other vehicle, Patrick Barton, and his passenger were not injured.

Barton has been arrested and spent time in jail three times since 1999 for DWI. The 29 year old man was out on parole from his last DWI at the time of the accident. He was drunk as a skunk again when he slammed into the Hull's vehicle from behind at a speed much higher than the speed limit. Hull's car, traveling at or near the posted speed limit of 65, was hit so hard that the trunk was forced up into the front seat area.

A family has been devestated because a habitual drunk driver was allowed to once again get behind the wheel. How many times is this terrible story going to be repeated before the nation pulls its head out of its ass and starts dropping the hammer on people who drive drunk?

Barton now faces two counts of murder. He lawyer will try to plead it down, an overworked DA's assistant will probably accept the plea to keep from going to court, and the judge, who just sees a crowded courtroom, will give him 3-4 years in jail - with time off, he'll be on parole in 2 years, free to go out and kill someone again.

2 comments:

Margot said...

I wish I thought people in this country would take a long hard look at the tolerance we have for alcohol abuse/DWIs. However we seem to be too pre-occupied with weight problems, happy meal toys, Ronald McDonald, global warming, entitlement programs, offensive Burger King Ads (there is nothing anymore that doesn't offend some group), soft drink taxes (now that really makes sense), what Glenn Beck is or isn't saying, which party is getting the most threats on their email, not "embarrassing" kids who have bad grades in school by posting them (sorry i come from the old school and have real issue with that one), not saying Christmas or Easter, not praying in school, and on and on to worry about such things. Sorry, but I think it may be hopeless. Your story goes beyond tragic and makes me count my blessings. However, this country's priorities are so off track it is scary and this will, unfortunately, keep repeating itself.

Molly said...

And now we have the Casey Anthony case—another O.J verdict. Many Americans believe insane verdicts are okay because it's unpatriotic to question the best Constitution in the world. If you're driving the best car in the world and it gets a flat tire, do you change the tire ASAP, or do all four tires have to go flat before you notice the car is not functioning in your best interest?