US: Woman who drove with man stuck in windscreen gets 55 years

[webfact]

Woman who drove with man stuck in windscreen gets 55 years

LOS ANGELES: -- A US substance abuse counsellor who drove for three kilometres with a pedestrian embedded in her car's windscreen after she hit him while drunk was jailed for at least 55 years.

Sherri Lynn Wilkins, 53, was convicted in February of second degree murder, driving under the influence and leaving the scene of the crash which killed 31-year-old Phillip Moreno. She was jailed for 55 years to life on Thursday.

Wilkins drove for three kilometres through a Los Angeles suburb on November 12, 2012, with Moreno stuck in her windscreen, before another motorist signalled for her to pull over.

When she eventually stopped she smoked a cigarette as bystanders tried to help the injured man. He later died in hospital.

Read more: http://www.theage.com.au/world/woman-who-drove-with-man-stuck-in-windscreen-gets-55-years-20140613-zs6et.html


-- The Age 2014-06-13

[Kerryd]

Apparently she wasn't rich. If she'd been rich she could have claimed "affluenza" and probably gotten off with some (state-sponsored) counselling and alcohol rehab.

[zydeco]

History repeats itself.

"I hit this white man," Mallard allegedly told acquaintance Maranda Daniel, laughing.^[6] During the trial, Tarrant County medical examiner Nizam Peerwani testified that, had Mallard taken Biggs to a hospital, he would have recovered from his injuries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chante_Jawan_Mallard

[faithchad]

Irony of ironies... she's a substance abuse counselor.

[hanno]

No if she had shot the guy in "self defense", she would have walked.....

[PREM-R]

Is there no 'Constitutional Right' for an American to drive with a pedestrian 'embedded in the car's windscreen'? Even in California?

[Emster23]

Contrast that with Thai man whose driving caused death of friend's wife and fetus here: 1,500 baht fine.

[mrfill]

Another stupid idiotic person who works in, and espouses the government (alcohol sponsored) line but doesn't realise that alcohol is a very dangerous drug and the fact it is legally available does not make any difference.

Any drunk driver who causes injury should be locked up and banned for life. With no injury, just a 10 year ban, car crushed and a massive fine.

[Maggusoil]

Is there no 'Constitutional Right' for an American to drive with a pedestrian 'embedded in the car's windscreen'? Even in California?

Not necessary. The pedestrian has become a passenger.

[peecee]

Contrast that with Thai man whose driving caused death of friend's wife and fetus here: 1,500 baht fine.

Thailand and justice are words seldom seen in the same sentence.

[bobmac10]

The incident occurred on October 26, 2001 when Mallard's car struck the homeless pedestrian Gregory Glen Biggs; at the time Mallard was believed to have been driving while intoxicated by a combination of marijuana, ecstasy and alcohol.^[2] The force of the impact sent Biggs flying through the windshield, lodging him there.

Mallard then drove home, leaving the injured Biggs stuck in her windshield, and parked her car in her garage.

From Wickepedia.

[tw25rw]

Is there no 'Constitutional Right' for an American to drive with a pedestrian 'embedded in the car's windscreen'? Even in California?

Only if he's an illegal immigrant.

[John Egil]

Why did i suddenly think of Red Bull

[manarak]

amazing what disproportionate sentence is handed out for what was an accident under influence followed by cruelty compared to the very light punishments when people deliberately and willfully hurt someone else!

[kinmaew]

In Australia a man was jailed this week for 32 years for killing a 10 month old toddler. Why is it that western countries are so lenient with drugs because this is the outcome. On the other hand you have squeaky clean Singapore and they don't have these issues but would I be willing to pull the leaver? no I would not so what do we do to deter drugs?

[BadBouy]

History repeats itself.

"I hit this white man," Mallard allegedly told acquaintance Maranda Daniel, laughing.^[6] During the trial, Tarrant County medical examiner Nizam Peerwani testified that, had Mallard taken Biggs to a hospital, he would have recovered from his injuries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chante_Jawan_Mallard

Maybe she was driving him to the hospital, I'm sure a lawyer will cook that defense up.

[Pralaad]

How wasted would you have to be not to notice a person in your windscreen?

And how on earth did she manage to drive and avoid hitting polls or other cars

[zydeco]

History repeats itself.

"I hit this white man," Mallard allegedly told acquaintance Maranda Daniel, laughing.^[6] During the trial, Tarrant County medical examiner Nizam Peerwani testified that, had Mallard taken Biggs to a hospital, he would have recovered from his injuries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chante_Jawan_Mallard

Maybe she was driving him to the hospital, I'm sure a lawyer will cook that defense up.

Not when she leaves the man crying in agony in her garage until he dies and then calls some friends over to burn and bury the body.

[BadBouy]

Is there no 'Constitutional Right' for an American to drive with a pedestrian 'embedded in the car's windscreen'? Even in California?

Not necessary. The pedestrian has become a passenger.

Woman at the trial

"He went through the windshield when I stopped short"

Feet first?

"He was sitting on his head"

[Chicog]

Why has this taken so long?

[capcc76]

amazing what disproportionate sentence is handed out for what was an accident under influence followed by cruelty compared to the very light punishments when people deliberately and willfully hurt someone else!

She was convicted of second degree murder and had sentence enhancements. People in US generally do not get off light for 1st and 2nd degree murder (intentional crimes), especially when 3 strikes or sentence enhancements are present.

http://news.yahoo.com/woman-drove-dying-man-car-gets-prison-193050640.html

Superior Court Judge Henry Hall said, "Ms. Wilkins demonstrated an extraordinary callousness in fleeing the scene and trying to shake Mr. Moreno's body off her car. This is a callous murder, not an unfortunate act."

Hall rejected a request from the defense and sentenced Wilkins under California's three strikes law, citing her long history of drug-related crimes. That tripled the minimum 15 years to life she otherwise could have received before being eligible for parole.

[capcc76]

Why has this taken so long?

Happened in November 2012.

[BlueSkyCowboy]

Another stupid idiotic person who works in, and espouses the government (alcohol sponsored) line but doesn't realise that alcohol is a very dangerous drug and the fact it is legally available does not make any difference.

Any drunk driver who causes injury should be locked up and banned for life. With no injury, just a 10 year ban, car crushed and a massive fine.

We have to find a better solution then prison. The cost to society is to hight at 60 to 70K a year. First we have to get rid of some rodents (lawyers)

[cardinalblue]

How wasted would you have to be not to notice a person in your windscreen?

And how on earth did she manage to drive and avoid hitting polls or other cars

What is on voting day?

Pretty funny....

CB

[HerbalEd]

History repeats itself.

"I hit this white man," Mallard allegedly told acquaintance Maranda Daniel, laughing.^[6] During the trial, Tarrant County medical examiner Nizam Peerwani testified that, had Mallard taken Biggs to a hospital, he would have recovered from his injuries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chante_Jawan_Mallard

Maybe she was driving him to the hospital, I'm sure a lawyer will cook that defense up.

If the lawyer is really good he'll claim the man was breaking and entering.

[Saradoc1972]

We have to find a better solution then prison. The cost to society is to hight at 60 to 70K a year. First we have to get rid of some rodents (lawyers)

Leave those rodents alone, our leading German magazine has just published a story where rodents in a study were found to actually rue mistakes...

The correct quote from Shakespeare's Henry VI is "The first thing we do / let's kill all the lawyers", but the character saying it sees it as a way to eliminate those who might stand in the way of a contemplated revolution. So it's a lawyer's joke, leave it to us when we got some client opposite of our desks too nervous to sit down ;-))

Otherwise I agree with you on the costs of the prison system brought about by those ridiculous US sentences. It's not like anything above 20 years will be meaningful to anyone, you will be hard pressed to imagine yourself after even that period of time in the future. It should be about rehabilitation and removal of danger to society for that particular criminal tendency, i.e. drinking and/or driving license.

A German sentence for reckless killing would most probably between 18-24 months suspended, drunk driving might get an actual prison sentence. In this case, without having looked up all the details, it might have been manslaughter by inactiveness (after the reckless driving under influence) and so it might have been some 6y, out after 4. And with some prior sentences (forget about that ridiculous three strikes, that's for baseball) maybe 8y, out after 6 plus a good chance of having the driving licence revoked for life.

And that is a huge impact on personal life nobody will forget in a hurry. Job gone, career options gone, rental or house and inventory gone, marriage and social contacts probably gone, broke for life for all the costs of the civil law side of things.

[spidermike007]

Apparently she wasn't rich. If she'd been rich she could have claimed "affluenza" and probably gotten off with some (state-sponsored) counselling and alcohol rehab.

Can you imagine an outcome like this in Thailand? Have you ever heard of a 55 year sentence here? Why are the judges so incredibly weak, and compromised here? Why do they lack any courage? Certainly, some with money would rarely receive a harsh sentence here. I admit she could have probably gotten off lightly, even in the US, if she was very rich, and was able to spend real money on lawyers.

[capcc76]

Apparently she wasn't rich. If she'd been rich she could have claimed "affluenza" and probably gotten off with some (state-sponsored) counselling and alcohol rehab.

Can you imagine an outcome like this in Thailand? Have you ever heard of a 55 year sentence here? Why are the judges so incredibly weak, and compromised here? Why do they lack any courage? Certainly, some with money would rarely receive a harsh sentence here. I admit she could have probably gotten off lightly, even in the US, if she was very rich, and was able to spend real money on lawyers.

3 strikes and those aggravating circumstances or enhancements would get her same range sentence regardless as to who represented her or how much money she had.

[332]

And in comparison, how long did the 19 yr old Thai get who drove for 10km with half a Lao girl sitting in the passanger seat of his dad's porsche after slicing her in half while speeding?

And the dad for then reporting it stolen when he found out about it?

Oh yeah, they paid the mother 350k baht and nothing else happened about it.

[332]

Can you imagine an outcome like this in Thailand? Have you ever heard of a 55 year sentence here?

Yes, many times.

Usually for drugs or in some instances child sex abuse.

Many people sitting in the Bangkok Hilton doing 99 yr sentences.