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It turns out that the wrong way driver in Fort Worth with the baby in her car had an alcohol level of .24. It's a weird case because as cars left the roadway to get out of her way, one of those cars struck a man who died (he had stopped and had gotten out of his vehicle.) The obvious charge was Intoxication Manslaughter (2 to 20 years) assuming the state could prove she "caused" that death (which they probably had a fair chance of doing despite the odd facts.)
But today the DA's office announced they would charge her with Murder (5 to 99 years). How? Murder normally means the intentional taking of another life. However, there's a fairly obscure provision of the penal code called "Felony Murder" that allows a person to be charged with Murder if (1) during the course of committing any felony, and (2) that person commits an act"clearly dangerous to human life and causes the death of another person." There is no requirement of proving intent to kill.
The law has always been that the "felony" in Felony Murder could not be Intoxication Manslaughter. It had to be another felony. So what felony did she commit? Oh, that baby in the car! That baby becomes important! It is a State Jail Felony (the lowest felony on the books) to commit DWI with a child passenger younger than 15 years of age. So she is alleged to have committed a State Jail Felony and committed an act "clearly dangerous to human life" that caused the death of another person. The Felony Murder statute now kicks in.
Prosecutors first used the Felony Murder statute in a DWI case about seven years ago when someone had caused a death while committing their third DWI -- which is itself a felony. This is the first time I've heard of the DWI With Child being used as the "underlying felony" in a Felony Murder Case
22 comments:
I cried through the whole movie.
What? An alcohol level of .24?
Notice this one has that look too.
Yeah, my heart bleeds for her too. She didn't intend for that guy to die. Who would have thought that if you drive at a .24 people could die?
Good to see that the baby became important. You talk about the baby like it was some inanimate object in the car that allowed the state to up the charge to a felony. You kind of reduce the baby in the way of saying somebody stole $5001, so their theft became a felony. In your eyes all the baby was was that extra $1!
its election and he is trying to look good for madd
This driving down the wrong way drunk has gotten out of control. If fact, driving while intoxicated in general has gotten out of control. I hope this hopeless young lay is prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and I am praying for the families of all involved.....especially for the little 5 year old who hasn't much of a chance.
Rage
I have said it before. If you want to off yourself, have at it. Just leave the rest of us out of the process. And putting your child at risk? White hot irons placed in all bodily orifices & openings would be too kind a punishment.
My Other Brother Darryl
I don't see what having a baby in the car has to do with it. Are you saying that she was endangering the child? Liberal weenies don't seem to have a problem with it being on the other side of the womb when they butcher it.
I think the da will win this case, if the jury follows the law.
I see I'm going to have to start logging in to post again.
I totally support charging her in that way, in case the dork pretending to be me is trying to post sokething he/she thinks I wouldn't normally say.
Rage
7:35, that was a stupid reply. What I like about your kind is you can not make a rational reply so you have to throw out stupid remarks to muddy the water to hide that fact. Pitty!!
7:35 -- Brilliant observation. Kudos.
Because there is no binding case law on this, she will most likely be convicted. Sad. A jury will be so damned confused by all the legal jargon, they will send her away for a very long time. I feel very sorry for the child that will grow up without a mother. ♫
How slow was this woman driving? Two cars get in an accident trying to avoid her. They have time to pull over, get out and start talking. Then, a third driver hits them stating he was trying to avoid the wrong way driver. The woman must have been at least 1/4 mile down the road by the time the first two had time to exit their vehicles. After the maneuver to avoid her, the third driver still did not have control of his vehicle to avoid the other accident at least a 1/4 mile away? What this woman did was wrong!! No doubt. But, I'm not sure she was at fault of the death. Unless you reason the other two never would of had an accident to be in the situation in the first place.
A police officer also reported that the wrong way driver did not have her hands on the steering wheel (she had them propped behind her head). Ya think that might add to endangering a child?
Where was Super Tropper Tom Bishop and how did she ever get by him the zin master of the DWI trade.
To 6:08 AM--just because you're a biological parent doesn't mean a child will be "damaged" by them not being in the child's life! I think the child will be very well off having this "mother" out of its life, after she tried to KILL the child! Sadly, nowadays, LOTS of kids are better off if they're taken away from their sperm and egg donors!
You people can't follow anything. The underlying felony IS NOT endangering a child. It is DWI WITH A CHILD PASSENGER. It will stand up on appeal. Murder based on felony DWI already has been ... twice. I think this one is even more appropriate as a murder.
Why didn't the police officer pull her over for not having her hands on the wheel?
She needs to rot in jail, dumb Cracker...
9:38 AM
Thank you so much for enlightening me, I feel so much marter after hearing those tidbits of wisdom! Asshat.
Anybody who believes this woman did not "cause" this death is beyond an idiot. She won't get that much time though because she's young and pretty and probably can cry on cue. She will find God in jail and want rehab and talk about how her mother was a drunk and her father yelled at her for not cleaning up her room. And some bleeding heart juror will buy it and convince the others to go light on her. Sit back and watch.
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