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Drunk driver gets 51 years to life in prison for triple fatality
Fox 11 Los Angeles ^ | February 28, 2020 | City News Service

Posted on 02/29/2020 7:45:18 AM PST by L.A.Justice

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To: L.A.Justice
Almost 40 years ago my 20 year old niece...and her boyfriend...were killed by a drunk driver who was "well known to the police".During the runup to the trial the prosecutor told my sister that there was a good chance that he'd be found "not guilty"...IIRC because of some legal technicality.

It turns out he changed his plea to guilty...got 2 years...and served 14 months.

My niece was driving...the autopsy showed she was sober as a judge (her boyfriend had been drinking...she was always the "designated driver").

21 posted on 02/29/2020 8:53:32 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (The Rats Can't Get Over The Fact That They Lost A Rigged Election)
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To: L.A.Justice

She'll be an old woman when she gets out.

22 posted on 02/29/2020 8:54:41 AM PST by Enterprise
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To: NYAmerican

Agreed.


23 posted on 02/29/2020 8:58:31 AM PST by trisham (Zen is not easy. It takes effort to attain nothingness. And then what do you have? Bupkis.)
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To: bgill

This excerpt is from an Orange County Register article - but another article said she was arrested at this scene but released. HB police discovered that she had plans to leave the country and found her and arrested her in Downey, CA. Good police work but they should have taken her in immediately! Good grief - anyone old enough to get a drivers license and drink shouldn’t need a warning about the risks involved to doing both at the same time.

“”A body-worn camera on a Huntington Beach officer captured a heavily-inebriated, seemingly confused and at-times argumentative Duarte shortly after the crash. The footage, which was shown during the trial, included Duarte repeatedly requesting a ride home from officers, asking “Did somebody just die? What is going on?” and expressing frustration that the crash occurred on one of the few occasions she was able to spend a night out away from her four children.

Duarte had previously been arrested for driving under the influence in San Clemente and had lost her license for her year. But she had not been given a formal warning, known as a Watson advisement, that if she again drank and drove and killed someone she could be charged with murder.

Such warnings are routinely cited by prosecutors in cases where repeat DUI drivers are charged with second-degree murder rather than a lesser charge of vehicular manslaughter. Duarte’s attorney, Justin Glenn, told jurors that since she hadn’t previously received that warning, there wasn’t enough evidence to prove she knew that driving under the influence was dangerous to human life, and that she decided to do it anyway.””

https://www.ocregister.com/2019/10/01/san-clemente-woman-convicted-of-2nd-degree-murder-for-drunken-crash-that-killed-3-las-vegas-teens/


24 posted on 02/29/2020 8:59:28 AM PST by Thank You Rush
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To: Lurker

“”They’re call Dram Laws and all 50 states have them.””

I thought that was true but didn’t post it because I wasn’t 100% sure. Thanks..


25 posted on 02/29/2020 9:01:11 AM PST by Thank You Rush
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To: Bull Man
Next on the agenda? Suits against gun manufacturers for producing a gun used in a crime. This is all a terrible idea.

See Post #21.

And as for your comment about gun manufacturers it don't take a rocket scientist to know that serving booze to someone who's visibly drunk is a thousand light years different than making a gun that winds up being used in a crime.OTOH,there are situations in which one could reasonably charged with proving a firearm to a particular person...and situations where one could be sued civilly for doing so.

But not the manufacturer itself.

But I admit that it must be acknowledged that there are more than a few people in DC...and state capitals...that wouldn't be mistaken for rocket scientists (or decent,logical,respectable individuals).

26 posted on 02/29/2020 9:02:08 AM PST by Gay State Conservative (The Rats Can't Get Over The Fact That They Lost A Rigged Election)
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To: ChildOfThe60s

an illegal would have been given the usual treatment..he couldn’t read Ingles, he was drinking only because his kids were cages at the border, and Trump hates him....


27 posted on 02/29/2020 9:04:46 AM PST by cherry
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To: Thank You Rush

“”But investigators say they found evidence that she was intending to leave the country to avoid prosecution. The Orange County U.S. Marshal’s Fugitive Task Force and the Orange County District Attorney’s office assisted the HBPD in the search.

On April 27, 2018, she was rearrested in Downey by Huntington Beach police on murder and felony drunk driving charges. Duarte was booked into the Huntington Beach Jail.””

https://orangecountytribune.com/2018/08/22/pre-trial-hearing-in-hb-triple-death-crash/


28 posted on 02/29/2020 9:04:47 AM PST by Thank You Rush
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To: cherry

I wouldn’t be so sure that she wasn’t an illegal - name and appearance might support that. She lived in San Clemente and that COULD mean that’s as far as she got after crossing the border.....HA!


29 posted on 02/29/2020 9:07:03 AM PST by Thank You Rush
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To: Thank You Rush

My pleasure.

Here in Illinois everyone who serves alcohol is required to have annual training called BASSET. It explicitly spells out how both the establishment and the server can be held both civilly and criminally liable for over serving patrons.

A bit of research on my part has taught that California laws limit third party liability in these cases.

That figures.

L


30 posted on 02/29/2020 9:09:03 AM PST by Lurker (Peaceful coexistence with the Left is not possible. Stop pretending that it is.)
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To: L.A.Justice

It’s a good thing this didn’t happen in San Francisco. She would have got probation.


31 posted on 02/29/2020 9:11:49 AM PST by Glennb51
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To: Leaning Right

I don’t think there was any question whether she was of age or not.


32 posted on 02/29/2020 9:23:23 AM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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To: Bull Man

“Imagine the lawsuits...”

Virtually every liability policy in the US (commercial and personal) covers Host Liquor Liability, so it’s nothing to worry about (unless you are selling liquor). For bars, it’s Liquor Liability__ain’t cheap.


33 posted on 02/29/2020 9:26:31 AM PST by DeFault User
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To: goldstategop

Never had one either - don’t drink at all and haven’t for over 20 years. But there was a time in my younger days I should have and by the grace of God I didn’t - scared me straight it did.


34 posted on 02/29/2020 9:54:45 AM PST by Spacetrucker (George Washington didn't use his freedom of speech to defeat the British - HE SHOT THEM .. WITH GUNS)
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To: L.A.Justice
I hope the Families are also suing the crap out of the bar that served her that unfathomable amount of alcohol after she was already smashed.

Obviously Duarte wasn't an illegal immigrant or she would have been out on the street with an apology from the judge and jury..........if it ever even made it to a jury.

35 posted on 02/29/2020 9:59:38 AM PST by Mastador1 (I'll take a bad dog over a good politician any day!)
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To: L.A.Justice

killed two Las Vegas teenagers and an 18-year-old man


isn’t that a bit odd?


36 posted on 02/29/2020 10:05:41 AM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: Leaning Right
Charging bartenders as accessories when one of their patrons commits a crime is a terrible idea in my opinion.

I've spent a fair amount of time in bars and by and large, bartenders try to do the right thing. No bartender wants to play a hand in a tragedy like this. I have seen people shut off at the bar, including people I was with. I've seen a bartender, when she knew her intoxicated patron was planning to drive home, call a taxi and tell the patron the police will be the next call if they still insist on driving home. But you can't catch them all. Experienced drinkers can hide signs of intoxication pretty well. Further, especially with the ladies, the men are usually buying the drinks for them and taking the drinks back to a table. How can bartenders be expected to police that?

Also, this opens the door for criminalizing a lot of other nonsense. For instance, if a house guest had too much to drink and got into a fatal DUI on the way home, you could go to jail and lose your house. I still remember a party at my brother's house where some teenagers liberated booze from the liquor cabinet and got smashed down in the basement. One of them had driven to the party in his parent's car and had already headed out with a carload of kids before we realized what was going on. Fortunately there was no accident but doesn't seem right that my brother should be charged as an accessory for that.

I prefer to stick with personal responsibility for one's own actions.

37 posted on 02/29/2020 10:21:32 AM PST by SamAdams76 (Trump (86); Commie (40); Butt (26);Fake Indian (13), Slow Joe (8); Crazy Amy (7); Drunken Weld (1))
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To: PeterPrinciple

Apparently what the meant was two teenage minors and an 18 year old. Editing isn’t what it used to be.


38 posted on 02/29/2020 12:02:26 PM PST by dblshot (I am John Galt.)
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To: Thank You Rush
I wouldn’t be so sure that she wasn’t an illegal - name and appearance might support that

It's pretty sickening that we have so many illegals that the betting odds aren't bad she is one.

If I was a normal & responsible American who was hispanic, the mass influx of illegals committing crimes and giving people reason to assume most hispanics are illegal criminals would infuriate me.

39 posted on 02/29/2020 12:07:19 PM PST by ChildOfThe60s (If you can remember the 60s........you weren't really there)
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To: ChildOfThe60s

“”If I was a normal & responsible American who was hispanic, the mass influx of illegals committing crimes and giving people reason to assume most hispanics are illegal criminals would infuriate me.””

I think that has been reported to be true - anyone born here with Hispanic ancestry or legally here resents that so many can’t manage to stay out of trouble...giving everyone a bad name. It’s probably true of any ethnic group.

Really regarding that woman in the thread, what US born citizen would think of leaving for another country to avoid prosecution if she hadn’t already come here from another country - legally or not?


40 posted on 02/29/2020 4:23:40 PM PST by Thank You Rush
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