By Mark David Blum, Esq.
You Have Got to be Kidding Me. Ten people dead. Sixty three injured. Rejecting an opportunity to set him free or give him a misdemeanor, jurors convicted him of ten counts of felony vehicular manslaughter. Never once has he shown an expression of remorse or any outward expression of acknowledgment of responsibility. Would it matter if he did? For all this damage and horror, a judge yesterday sentenced a California man to five years probation. The man will not do a moment of prison and will pay no price to society for the crimes he committed.
To my utter amazement, the judge justified his sentence saying, “George Weller clearly deserves a prison sentence. The devastation that he has caused and the indifference that he has displayed support no other conclusion. The fact that he deserves prison doesn't mean he should get it. I believe the courts need to be practical as well as principled and I don't see any purpose in sending Mr. Weller to jail or prison. It wouldn't do anybody any good.”
Words utterly fail me in expressing the deep disgust and frustration I feel hearing that sentence and the wickedness of the justification therefor. The Judge did not feel that due to the man’s age and failing health, sending him to prison would do any good.
Frankly, that judge could not be any more wrong. Quickly off the top of my head, I can count at least three compelling reasons to let the driver rot in prison. First, his incarceration will assure all of us that the individual will never drive a car again and will spend what few years he has left thinking about the harm and pain he caused.
Second, his incarceration would send a message that responsible driving is more than cell phones and includes physical and mental capability to do so. We live in a society where we believe we have a “right” to drive until death do us part. I understand all the “independence” arguments that go along with having a right to drive and the freedom and liberty that driving can give. But each of us has a point at which, should we be so lucky to survive thereto, that our physical and mental faculties no longer make us safe piloting a several thousand pound motor vehicle at high speeds in public places. It may be among the hardest decisions we ever make, but we must all accept that the day will come that we will no longer be able to handle a car. More importantly, there will come a day where our driving a car poses too great of a threat to society. Sending this man to prison sends a loud and clear message to all of us to be more mindful of our abilities and that there is a price to be paid for such criminal negligence. The driver may have been nearing 90 years old; but how long had he been behind the wheel when he and others knew he could no longer drive?
Finally, and perhaps the loudest message that a prison sentence would send is that in the United States, you do not get a free pass to commit murder once you reach a certain age. There is no inherited right to automatic One Free Walk for any felony just because you have achieved a ripe old age or happen to be ill. Especially at that age, a citizen of this nation should know what is tolerable and should be held to a higher standard than the young. Age brings experience and with that comes wisdom. If this concept keeps in place, I may start making a hit list to start working off of to celebrate my 85th birthday.
Still, none of the foregoing deals with what really irks me about the judge’s sentence. His statement, “the fact that he deserves prison doesn't mean he should get it. I believe the courts need to be practical as well as principled and I don't see any purpose in sending Mr. Weller to jail or prison. It wouldn't do anybody any good” is one that makes me want to cry out in frustration. The system is bending over backwards and shooting itself in the ass out of sympathy for an aging ill white man.
Walk these same steps with me but change the driver into a 19 year old black male. “In an interrogation secretly videotaped by Santa Monica police, Weller sounded the themes his defense presented at trial. He claimed he had no idea why his car accelerated through the crowded open-air market and insisted he did all he could to stop it. His account was backed by the California Highway Patrol, which did a five-month investigation, and national highway safety officials. They concluded that Weller suffered from pedal error, and hit the accelerator when he intended to brake. He was confused, he panicked and could not reverse course during his 20-second ride along Arizona Avenue, the reports found. The former head of the CHP publicly questioned whether Weller should be charged with a crime.”
Imagine the defendant’s name was Carncross. Also imagine the courtroom filled with the defendant’s BabyMomma, his weeping parents, and all the bangers from his hood. He has little education and is unemployed represented by Onondaga County’s finest assigned counsel. Now, imagine the look on Judge Aloi or Judge Brunetti or Judge Fahey’s face when defense counsel argues, “I don't see any purpose in sending Mr. [Carncross] to jail or prison. It wouldn't do anybody any good.” Do you understand now my anger and why I exploded so when I heard the California sentence handed down?
Let us be clear: Prison does no good for nobody. The institutions are not rehabilitation houses and it is no longer policy in the United States to rehabilitate a prisoner. Now, prison is strictly punitive and about punishment. Saying sending someone to prison does them no good is like saying don’t touch fire because it is hot. We do not send people to prison because doing so does THEM some good. Prisons are in place because they presumptively do US some good by keeping a dangerous person away from civilized society.
While the discussion about rehabilitation is a worthy one, it is not relevant here. What we have is someone who by verdict and jury’s edict was guilty of ten counts of manslaughter. From where I sit, the judge should be far less swayed by an aging citizen than by a young one. After all, which of the two has the greater chance of rehabilitation and being a productive citizen?
The young offender is the one who should be on probation, sent home, and given a chance at life. The old offender has lived his life and here, has taken ten more lives just for giggles. Of the two, the old offender belongs in prison as there is no chance for his redemption. Dying in prison may not be pleasant, but neither is dying under a car on Arizona Avenue in Santa Monica.
From day one in law school, the maxim that “hard cases make bad law” has proven itself over and over. With such a sympathetic defendant before the Court, the judge obviously had a hard time enforcing the law and made what I consider to be one of the worst decisions ever.
Age apparently, has its privileges. I can’t wait to find out.
