About a month ago a 19 year old boy stole a truck from MSU, in my uncles department, then proceeded to try and drive home drunk and hit another car head on and killing him.

They are going for life in prison for this boy, and also maybe suing MSU for leaving a running truck unattended for someone to steal.

What are your thoughts on life in prison for this 19 year old? I feel horrible for the man that was killed, his life ended too early, and for those family and friends left behind, but I feel that life in prison is a bit much for this boy. I don't know. 10-20 years, maybe... but life?

What do you think?

well, i know that when i was 19, i was hardly a 'boy'. i was old enough to know that decisions i made would have circumstances, even though i didn't really always act on my knowledge.

it's a harsh sentence, but the stuff the kid did was harsh, too.

as anti-death penalty as i am, i'm very much a believer of 'if you can't do the time, don't do the crime'. you take risks, you deal with what happens.

Anxiety said:

Yeah... I know he's not a boy, but... I don't know.

I guess I'm looking at it like he is young, a college student, one who was out getting shnockered and fucked up huuuuge, in a very bad way. I was trying to turn it around in my head, wondering how I would feel if it was one of my children or my mother who was killed by this kid and I couldn't imagine going for life in prison. Ten or twenty years I can see, but for the rest of his life?

I agree with you though, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime. I've just never heard of anyone getting life for killing someone from driving drunk.

AzureStarr said:

Life-in-prison is way over the top. I would say, at his age, 10 years is sufficient. And to try and make MSU liable is ludicrous.

If I have no sympathy whatsoever, and I am not sure I do...

1. grand theft auto

2. Driving drunk

3. manslaughter due to a crime (auto theft)

4. Vehicular homicide (killed person while drunk)

5. drinking underage

That says to me that life could be justified. Plus, do you know if he will be eligible for parole later?

Nineteen is old enough to know about drinking. Damn.

AzureStarr said:

Thats a very tough one for me to answer.

Certainly he should do a good deal of time.

However, the system is set up for two reasons:
1) punish
2) re-hab. This kid certainly is a candidate for rehab. So keeping him in his entire life would be based souly on punishment.

As stupid as this may sound to people, as irresponsible as his actions where, you have to consider all the variables. Certainly he should be eligible for parole at some point in that scentence.

If at 19 we are saying his age should be a factor, then we shouldn't be calling people adults at 18.

I don't think his age should have anything to do with it

maybe this type of punishment would deter this behaviour from others

FullLabios said:

I don't agree with just letting him off, certainly he should do time.

Also, you don't know that I would be "singing a different tune" if I were in the deceased families shoes.

Ace said:

I agree. While you know what can happen if you drink and drive many people do it, underage or not. I'm sure in the state that he was in, which was said to be so incoherent that he was driving in the completely wrong direction to even go home, that his intentions where not to go out and kill someone. He made a horrible, horrible mistake, one that I think he should do time for, but like you, I agree that asking for life is a bit over the top.

Yeah... the whole MSU thing. They aren't sure what is going to happen, but suing them has been mentioned. The kid who left the truck running called my uncle that morning to tell him it'd been stolen. I guess he went out, turned it on to warm up, went inside to get a bottle of water and returned. The truck was only left for three or four minutes, but the gate was already open. That kid feels horrible as well.

My question is.How can a 19 year old first time offender get life, when Larry Mahoney, a repeat offender got out in ten years?

bluesbaby said:

I don't know about parole. He hasn't been sentenced yet. That's just what they're asking the sentence to be.

AsianBomb777 said:

You hit the nail on the head right there.

This is of course assuming that at age 19 he hasn't already been a multiple offender. If his record previous to this was basically clean, he should be punished accordingly but also rehabilitated. This is all my OPINION, ps.

crazyhorse said:

Exactly! It doesn't make sense! I wonder if they're trying to go for this to make an example out of him considering a vast majority of the kids on campus indulge quite frequently.

AzureStarr said:

that's a harsh penalty but the penalty suffered by those innocent people who are killed by drunk drivers is far more harsh.

my least favorite part of my job right now is handling drunk driving cases involving some fool who drank too much, got in his car and drove off, only to kill innocent, non-intoxicated, law-abiding strangers.

i would say that revocation of all driving privileges forever would be fair, except that usually drunks continue to drive, despite having had their licenses revoked and all insurance coverage denied them.

in Minnesota there have been cases of repeat offenders (on their 6th or even 7th DUI offense) killing innocent bystanders. for these people life imprisonment seems fair to me, as it seems the only way to keep them off the roads and protect the rest of us.

what i really don't understand is why alcohol, which causes immeasurable damage to society in so many ways, is not outlawed along with the rest of the drugs our society is supposedly 'waging war' on.

XxAxX said:

I don't think I'd be able to deal with that part of your job. I agree with your thoughts on this, especially taking away driving privileges forever for those who have killed others, along with doing some time, and life for those repeat offenders.

As for why alcohol isn't outlawed... I know, it doesn't make much sense. It seems that alcohol causes more damage to people themselves and causes more deaths than other substances that are illegal. I don't know if that's true or not, but it seems that way.

XxAxX said:

I think its interesting that he is going to sue because they left a truck running and available for someone to steal. Lawdy!

TheOrgerFormerlyKnownAs said:

Co-sign.

AzureStarr said:

maybe it's because if us common people weren't able to sedate ourselves somehow against the contradictions between what we know in our hearts is right and what we're actually doing as a people, maybe without sedation we'd wake up and realize how utterly fucked the system is. . .

there are people who kill and preplan a murder and and deserve to get life in the joint and then there are people that make a mistake and deserve to learn their lesson by doing some time but mos def not LIFE!!! a 19 year old drinking and driving needs counsiling or help! AA perhaps but LIFE is not the solution!



oops
[Edited 4/6/05 20:56pm]

Life. The DUI laws are ridiculous. You can murder someone and get house arrest.

analbolique said:

Co-sign

VoicesCarry said:

The more I think about it there's gotta be more to this story. He must have had some kind of record.

analbolique said:

i think he would have had to have had prior issues that kind of punishment only seems fit if the kid had been drinking and driving prior to this.

its a tough call... he did something stupid as hell, cost a family a loved one.... HOWEVER, before we cast our stones, lets just ask ourselves how many of US were drinking before age ????? and how many of US have driven when we shouldnt have ??? its a horrible situation, and there is no 'right' answer

i feel for the family that lost their loved one, and i feel for the kid that's in prison now, i also feel for the family that lost their son to such a STUPID decision

im bummed now