13-month-old Kaylee Alvarez
Posted on 02/02/2011 9:45:12 PM PST by TruthHound
Hug your children today. Praise God that there's one less killer on the streets—for a while, at least.
P.S. "MOTORIST"?!?!?
That’s why we need zero tolerance for drunk drivers!
And Freepers who defend them should get the ZOT!
“The defense had argued Dinkins, who had a .20 blood alcohol content at the time of the accident, couldn’t be guilty of murder because he was too drunk to know what he was doing. The legal blood alcohol limit is .08.”
Has to be about the most stupid line of “reasoning” ever proffered by a scumbag defense attorney.
He was sober as he drank and made each decision to have another drink. What he did after he decided to get that drunk (drive) is his responsibility.
The line of reasoning is like saying, “Sure my client purchased a handgun illegally. Sure he loaded it, he hid it on his person, he walked into a bank, he robbed a teller with it. But it wasn’t his fault and it wasn’t his intent that he shot and killed a security guard who tried to stop him. That wasn’t part of his plan.”
The defense attorney argued that he “couldn’t be guilty of murder because he was too drunk to know what he was doing” because of his 0.20% BAC?? That is a disgusting and reprehensible defense!
Sorry you had to endure that trial. That must have been very emotional and disturbing, to say the least.
Sad news from my old hometown.
There are no winners here. And I don’t buy the argument that being drunk absolves one of responsibility for the lives of others. If you’re too stupid not to understand that responsibility, you rightly should face the consequences.
Does that include me since I’m a defense attorney?
So many Freepers here hate the police and the court system, but you would guess from their postings it all comes from being on the defendant side of the proceedings. As an objective third party, would you have been comfortable casting that vote?
I'm always curious to hear first hand accounts.
FWIW, the crime was premeditated in that the driver drank far into excess, then slid behind the wheel of his weapon. That is my opinion, and is not based in any specific state’s laws.
The gruesomeness of the outcome should not be a factor in the verdict, IMO. The fact that the outcome ended lives is what matters - because the perp didn’t specifically set out to cause such gruesome injuries (i.e.: he did not set out to torture). They were the byproduct of his driving.
Finally, I hope you can forget the images you have endured, and soon. While such pictures may inspire against drinking and driving, they can also tear down one’s soul.
Every one’s entitled to a defense but no one should argue its OK to get behind the wheel intoxicated.
When someone loses their life, its reminder that one made a bad personal choice that cost that person their life.
I think blatantly drunk drivers should be charged with attempted murder.
13-month-old Kaylee Alvarez
I would have been comfortable voting “guilty.” Its just very sad. There’s no one happy, not the family that will never hold their child in their arms again nor the family that lost the guy who did it.
I wouldn’t wish that on any one. Justice was done but its never going to bring that kid to life again.
he chose to drive drunk on a suspended license.
Dinkins was combative with police and blamed the victims’ mother, insisting they were jay-walking and he had the right-of-way, the DA told jurors.
The two victims were riding in a red plastic Radio Flyer wagon as their parents took them on an evening stroll. At about 8:15 p.m. as the family was in a crosswalk at Redondo Avenue at Tenth Street, when Dinkins in a Dodge Durango turned left onto Redondo.
The car knocked the parents down and rolled over the wagon, Cops said earlier in the trial.
Dinkins then drove half a block, with sparks flying from beneath the SUV, before he stopped briefly.
Witness Ira Cohen said he stepped into the street and threw his hands up to stop Dinkins. The braking dislodged Oscar, who tumbled out of the wagon, which was jammed in the wheel well of the SUV.
Oscar would require surgery for his injuries.
Because Kaylee was buckled into her seat in the wagon she remained trapped as Dinkins took off a few seconds later, all while the child’s mother and others screamed for him to stop.
Everyone deserves a defense thanks to the 6th Amendment. In some situations there is no defense, like this one. That does not mean that the Attorney should not give one. The 12 jurors are their as the BS meter. Generally it work pretty good. I don't like the Bill of Rights infringed upon no matter how heinous the criminal is.
Someone who can’t take care around children has no business being free. I hope Dinkins never sees the light of day again.
in 1998 he was convicted of a drug charge and given three years probation. Probation didn’t go very well, and soon he was serving five years in state prison for two separate violations.
In 2000, Neely Dinkins was arrested again, this time for burglary, but that charge ended up getting dropped because there wasn’t enough evidence to pin it on him.
Even a murderer deserves a defense... only totalitarian societies railroad people into prison with show trials.
We don’t have that here and a defense for the bad guys is part of the price we pay for living in a civilized society.
The justice system failed those kids. I would have told the prosecutor that to her face. If your office had done its job in the first place, they would still be alive today. Your winning a conviction doesn’t redeem it from that and never should!
Jail is too good for him.
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