Opinions for an appropriate "punishment" - sentence if convicted

[Frostbit]

Drunk ran over family

"A woman whose driver’s license had been revoked for drunken driving plowed into a group of children and adults walking on an Anchorage street early Sunday morning, police said, sending a mother and her two young children to the hospital with injuries.

The most seriously hurt was a 4-year-old boy who suffered a collapsed lung, police said. He was in the intensive care unit of a local hospital Sunday afternoon."

Witnesses recount a frantic effort to rescue baby pinned under DUI suspect's SUV




"The driver appeared to be trying to get away, the men said.

King went for the driver's side, while Reyes raced to the passenger side, where a baby -- an 18-month old boy, police said -- was stuck in a mangled stroller, wedged between the front wheel and the snow bank.

The wheel of the SUV was inches from the child's head, the men said.

King flung open the door of the vehicle and tried to wrestle the woman's hands away from the gearshift. She was trying to put it in reverse. He said he knew the baby was pinned.

Both men screamed at her to put the car in park and get out.

The baby's father was slamming the hood screaming, King said.

The look on her face was blank, the two men said.

"A 10,000-yard stare," is how Reyes remembers it.

King said he squeezed the woman's hand to get her to let go of the gearshift. He got the car in park and wrested her out, then sat her on a snowbank.

The smell of alcohol was heavy in the air around her, both men said. Prosecutors said in a charging document that that Merrill was "pungent" with the smell when officers arrived.

But the baby was still underneath the SUV.

King and Reyes looked at each other and grabbed hold of the front fender of the vehicle. Somehow they lifted it.

Reyes reached down and freed the baby. He shook away snow packed into the baby's snowsuit, his nostrils, and his face. The baby didn't move.

Oh no, Reyes thought."

[Michele]

Drunk ran over family

"A woman whose driver’s license had been revoked for drunken driving plowed into a group of children and adults walking on an Anchorage street early Sunday morning, police said, sending a mother and her two young children to the hospital with injuries.

The most seriously hurt was a 4-year-old boy who suffered a collapsed lung, police said. He was in the intensive care unit of a local hospital Sunday afternoon."

Witnesses recount a frantic effort to rescue baby pinned under DUI suspect's SUV




"The driver appeared to be trying to get away, the men said.

King went for the driver's side, while Reyes raced to the passenger side, where a baby -- an 18-month old boy, police said -- was stuck in a mangled stroller, wedged between the front wheel and the snow bank.

The wheel of the SUV was inches from the child's head, the men said.

King flung open the door of the vehicle and tried to wrestle the woman's hands away from the gearshift. She was trying to put it in reverse. He said he knew the baby was pinned.

Both men screamed at her to put the car in park and get out.

The baby's father was slamming the hood screaming, King said.

The look on her face was blank, the two men said.

"A 10,000-yard stare," is how Reyes remembers it.

King said he squeezed the woman's hand to get her to let go of the gearshift. He got the car in park and wrested her out, then sat her on a snowbank.

The smell of alcohol was heavy in the air around her, both men said. Prosecutors said in a charging document that that Merrill was "pungent" with the smell when officers arrived.

But the baby was still underneath the SUV.

King and Reyes looked at each other and grabbed hold of the front fender of the vehicle. Somehow they lifted it.

Reyes reached down and freed the baby. He shook away snow packed into the baby's snowsuit, his nostrils, and his face. The baby didn't move.

Oh no, Reyes thought."

Thank God they were there to prevent her from killing the baby.

The 34-year-old has a history of convictions for assault, family violence, child neglect and child abuse, according to documents filed with the court, in addition to two drunken driving convictions in 2007 and 2010.

At minimum, loss of license and jail time. How much jail time? I have no idea.

[Frostbit]

At minimum, loss of license and jail time. How much jail time? I have no idea.

She was already driving without a license or insurance.

[Celeste Chalfonte]

According to the Tipplers, Wastrels and Addicts Anti-Defamation and Defense League (TWADDLe), she's sick, not criminal. So lock her ass up in a facility for the criminally insane until she loses all desire to drink (read: for life).

[phillygirl]

According to the Tipplers, Wastrels and Addicts Anti-Defamation and Defense League (TWADDLe), she's sick, not criminal. So lock her ass up in a facility for the criminally insane until she loses all desire to drink (read: for life).

But seriously...what do you think her punishment should be? My knee jerk was 10 years in prison, but then I remembered that, through divine intervention, dumb luck, 2 strong guys, or whatever, that nobody actually died. I have no idea what the sentencing guidelines are on vehicular assault in Alaska, but I am interested in knowing your opinion on it. And, I'll admit, I'm generally a soft-headed liberal on sentencing.

[Norm dePlume]

Is her family wealthy enough for the "affluenza defense"?

[Celeste Chalfonte]

But seriously...what do you think her punishment should be? My knee jerk was 10 years in prison, but then I remembered that, through divine intervention, dumb luck, 2 strong guys, or whatever, that nobody actually died. I have no idea what the sentencing guidelines are on vehicular assault in Alaska, but I am interested in knowing your opinion on it. And, I'll admit, I'm generally a soft-headed liberal on sentencing.

They need to get creative with the charges. My position is that, knowing she is a convicted DUI, the decision to take the first sip is now wanton and reckless disregard for human life. Charge her with attempted vehicular homicide, vehicular assault with GBH and anything else that can be shoehorned in and then sentence her to the maximum, just to keep her off the street.

This is not some young person who misjudged one time with tragic consequences. This is a career drunk driver and felon who made a decision to drink, knowing she would, as she always has before, do something evil and dangerous to other people once she took that drink.

[Frostbit]

There's been the occasional 4-5-6th DUI repeater in the news before after T-boning and seriously injuring someone. You hear little about them being put away for any serious length of time.

Here's an interesting new twist they are trying out.

"A former UPS delivery driver who estimates he has driven drunk 1,000 times in his lifetime, Berg is awaiting trial on his fourth drunken-driving charge. When the siren sounds, he has just minutes to blow into a plastic tube to prove he hasn't been drinking.

If he ignores the test, or the gadget detects liquor on his breath, it's back to jail for the 53-year-old Anchorage grandfather."

[gary m]

I have to go with the same answer as I did in the wild boar thread without the attempt at tongue in cheek humour.

[Gingersnap]

The twice a day testing is an interesting idea. The main thing here is to keep the woman from endangering anyone and to make her pay for her own upkeep which this testing scheme would seem to do. Throw in enough community service to keep her weekends occupied for the next 5 years and maybe you would be able to really change her behavior. It's worth a shot.

Endless jail isn't really "endless" and it just supplies the criminal with a new set of bad friends and worse habits. I'm not saying jail isn't useful in some circumstances but I don't think it does much for drunks.

What would be good is if when the tests were failed, the criminal went straight into an outdoor chain-gang type situation for 12 hours a day for so many months. A lot of people will accept regular jail conditions since it's not that different from their normal life: food, TV, lots of social engagement. Working for real is a different story.

[Novaheart]

Make it relevant. Figure out the total cost of the incident, divide it by her regular annual earnings and put her in work release shoveling snow and picking up trash and sleeping in jail until her debt is "paid".

[Adam]

I agree with both Celeste regarding creative charging and Nova for creative sentencing.

According to what I'm reading, she has a max of 60 months for felony DUI with an excessive intoxication enhancement along with a revoked license enhancement (basically, if you're really fucked up, and your license was revoked under a prior DUI, the enhancement kicks in), along with up to lifetime license revocation and seizure of vehicle. Unless there's a father in the picture who will be under hardship for this, I'd say impound the car (if it hasn't been already) and hold it until the trial is over. Then, also charge her with multiple counts of attempted involuntary manslaughter for slamming into a bunch of people. Make the manslaughter charges to be served concurrently, but only consecutive to the DUI charges, plus the maximum fines for each ($10K for the DUI; I haven't been able to find out how much, if any, fine is levied for attempted involuntary manslaughter, but I'd say at least $2500 for each charge). That will mean seven years in the joint. I think that seven years in the joint, plus losing her car (and her kids, by default), plus losing her license forever (provision under Alaska law for third or more offense, particularly with an enhancement), PLUS forcing her into hard labor, would be sufficient.

For the "hard labor" portion, put her (and others) to work on a chain gang in downtown Anchorage shoveling snow off of the sidewalks every time it snows, and every summer, put her (and others) out on a chain gang doing the never-ending work on roads. On other days, she gets put to work as a day-laborer for whomever wants day labor for basic, unskilled labor purposes. Someone needs a worker in an office for a couple of days stuffing envelopes? Hire out Ms. Merrill to stuff envelopes, under the guard of the Alaska state patrol (or whomever would be appropriate) to do so. She gets paid minimum wage by the company needing envelope-stuffing, and out of that, all of the monies go to pay off the medical bills of the victims first, and when that is done, to pay the cost of her fines, but once the fine payments start, 75¢ out of each hour worked will go into a savings account. After she pays off her fines, she'll continue to work to pay off her court costs, and then her incarceration costs, even if that's a losing proposition for her.

After her seven years, she's forbidden from ever getting a DL again, forbidden from ever owing a road vehicle again, prohibited from ever operating any vehicle on the public roads again (including snowmobiles, bicycles, horse-drawn carriages, etc.) or the public airways. She will spend the remainder of her years completely dependent upon public transportation, the kindness of others willing to give her a lift, and her own shoeleather to get everywhere she wants to go, be that the grocery store or her job.



I think that would be sufficient for someone who has done what she has done.

[Celeste Chalfonte]

Trouble is, Adam, you're assuming that she can "learn a lesson." It took me years to understand this, but whatever a drunk does, it isn't her fault. The steering went bad, the cop was harassing her, the pedestrians jumped in front of her, or if all else fails, somebody "made" her take a drink, knowing how "powerless" she is. That's why she was driving with no license on this occasion; it wasn't her fault she had her license taken away, it that harsh judge and that mean cop. And if you lock her up, the odds are very good that seven years from now, permanent revocation of her license won't keep her from driving, because it's "not fair" to expect somebody to get a job with no car. And some damned fool will let her drive his.

[Adam]

Trouble is, Adam, you're assuming that she can "learn a lesson." It took me years to understand this, but whatever a drunk does, it isn't her fault. The steering went bad, the cop was harassing her, the pedestrians jumped in front of her, or if all else fails, somebody "made" her take a drink, knowing how "powerless" she is. That's why she was driving with no license on this occasion; it wasn't her fault she had her license taken away, it that harsh judge and that mean cop. And if you lock her up, the odds are very good that seven years from now, permanent revocation of her license won't keep her from driving, because it's "not fair" to expect somebody to get a job with no car. And some damned fool will let her drive his.

Well, not exactly. That's why I would have a court bar her from ownership or operation of any vehicle, even a bicycle, upon the public motorways.

Bear ye in mind that I'm looking at this from a perspective of the best possible balance of what is legal and ethical and Constitutional against somehow preventing her from ever putting people in danger like this again.

The woman clearly has a major, MAJOR problem with booze (and I wouldn't be surprised if there was more involved than that). If she ever drives again, it's a risk to the public at large. At the same time, we can't exactly give her the death penalty, either, even though that would absolutely ensure that she never hurt anyone ever again. Same for life without parole. So, AFAIC, the next best bet is to punish her very severely to send a message to others, and at the same time force her to engage in restitution to not only the direct victims but also the state (and thus the taxpayers), and ultimately to make it personally illegal for her to engage in any behavior that could even possibly put the public at risk ever again.

I suspect that under my scenario, she would indeed violate again, at which time the law can deal with her, but the question in the OP was what to do with her in this circumstance, so I played pretend jurist and legislator for what I think would be about the best possible outcome for the situation.



I'm certainly willing to entertain other ideas in this hypothetical, though.