Pair get 8 years for serving beer at party

Washington Times ^ | 2-12-03 | Washington Times

[ambrose]

CHARLOTTESVILLE (AP)

[CharacterCounts]

Thirty days plus 200 hours community service, according to the local newspaper.

I see, the people who serve alcohol resulting in the death of a girl get thirty days. People who serve alcohol where no one was injured get eight years. Sounds like a fair deal to me.

[wanderin]

The judge could have had the eight years better served with the parents assisting at the local morgue, then sending the parents out to educate the community or in other ways.

Does this pair have a drinking problem themselves? There are plenty of people who are incapable or choose not to acknowledge what drunks (themselves or others) do when they smash into others on the road.

What one sees on the evening news spares the viewer most of the gore, pain and suffering that results from mixing kids ( & adults) with alcohol.

Even if they get out in 2 1/2 years, they have lost their posessions, jobs, possibly younger children farmed out for others to raise.

There are so many alternatives that could have been more productive and efficient as punishment.

[Quix]

Satirical question I realize . . .

However . . .

I have mixed feelings about the death penalty.

They didn't cause a death--yet.

I prefer to reserve the death penalty for deliberately extremely hideous and brutal murders . . . with super abundant PROOF of guilt.

[RJCogburn]

If you saw as much death, family and social mayhem as most judges see from alcoholism

Without getting into specifics, I have seen waaaaaay more than my share of the tragedy of alcohol use and abuse, which makes me even more certain that this judge is, in plain language, a fool.

[RWG]

you cannot legislate what should be taught by parents...without a doubt that's right. But you can punish what individuals do without regard for the safety and welfare of others. Il RWG

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..just looking for a little intellectual consistency from the "controller" types. I should have known better, bud....

If your first post was intended as sarcasm, please accept an apology, for my overreaction. Cheers, By.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..we'll just throw the f-word (fascist) around and whine about how this great country is a police state on par with Orwell's wildest dreams and hope that someone will pay attention to us....

What part of 'cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted' do you have trouble understanding, mate?

[FenianOfEire]

I'll chalk this one up as an "unintended consequence"

[mysterio]

So you cast the first stone? Perhaps you would like to elaborate on your own indiscretions. Ever broken the law without getting caught? Think carefully. The only thing that separates your own lawbreaking from theirs is that you did not get caught. There is not a person here who, if properly punished for every law they broke in their lives, would not be doing at least 20 years in prison.

[Bonaparte]

"It doesn't work that way in Virginia."

Good to hear it, WL. These two were willing to put 60 drunken 16-year-olds behind the wheel.

[mysterio]

What your underage kid does while you are not looking would turn your hair white. Be a parent. Don't expect the government to do it for you.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

...CJ and his ilk have always been here. What has changed is the relative absence of the other side, as many/most of them have been banned, or have walked away in disgust....

You would be surprised just how many people have said that to me lately, BK. There must be an awful lot of the old crew still lurking around this place. Maybe we ought to support each other, a little more? :) Cheers, By.

[RabidBartender]

"What part of 'cruel and unusual punishments shall not be inflicted' do you have trouble understanding, mate?"

And who defines what cruel and unusual punishment is? The anti-authority whiner or the police-state advocate? To the strictist law-and-order type who wants to record your phone calls, this sentence might be fine. To the people who scream bloody murder about their rights being violated when a police officer looks in their direction, 1 day in jail is a horrid miscarraige of justice, and the judge should be hung (some miscreant actually suggested this in this thread).

BTW, post #155 is my take on this particular case. The judge acted within his powers and the couple has the opportunity to appeal. Also, I apologize if you respond and I do not answer until Monday or Tuesday, because I am out of here for the weekend. Have a good one.

[Byron_the_Aussie]

...lock up those assault knives that you have in your kitchen, your 5 gallon buckets, and barricade your steps: They kill more children every year than anything else."

Source?

Australia.

We're further down the statist track than you, and we have all kinds of that stupidity enacted into law. Compulsory pool fencing, a ban on the sale of knives to under sixteens....learn, from our sad and shameful precedent.

[RGSpincich]

My hair is white and I don't expect to get submarined by my fellow parents.

[sit-rep]

This is complete bullshit! Most know me being a biker kinda guy. All my friends allow their kids to drink at home. What kind of country are we letting America turn into people!!! Damn!

SR

[Byron_the_Aussie]

..if the world were a just place only you and your children would get killed or crippled by teenage drivers who became drunk by the irresponsible actions of parents such as these scofflaws that you defend....

No-one was killed or crippled by these teenagers, Eccles. But the judge sentenced the parents as though someone had been. And that is a breach of the 8th Amendment. Can you get that through your head?

People like you four remind me that there is nothing intrinsically freedom-loving or admirable about America. It is only the Constitution, and the Bible, that has made her the pre-emininent nation she is today. Those are your sword and shield and you should recognise them as such. Stand up for them. Don't sit by, when they're under attack, like they are here, day after day.

Without them, you're North Korea, with prairie.

[mysterio]

Fair enough.

[WL-law]

Do I believe eight years is too long for a first-time offender? Yes. But being fully aware of how probation and parole work, I also understand that they will almost certainly be out in two years or less. The point is made, and a just sentence will be served. That sounds about right.

In my estimation it is the large number of teens involved that makes this an especially egregious offense. The prosecutor's recommendation might have made sense if the case had involved only a half dozen or so teens. But 60 teens? The parents might just as well have fired 60 rounds from a rifle randomly down the length of a busy interstate highway. To plead for leniency because no bullet found a target is foolish. Statistically, it was a miracle no one was killed.

Guess what -- no parole in Virginia -- you serve the full sentence. And, BTW -- how do you automatically assume, from the fact of kids drinking, that therefore they later drove, and that they drove drunk? Perhaps nobody was allowed to drive home -- maybe it was a mass sleep-over.