16-year-old charged with murder in wreck during street racing

[jlee]

It is well known that cars are dangerous and seatbelts save lives. That's why people are legally required to wear them.

Not everywhere..states have different laws. IIRC, if you're over 16 (or 18) in NH, no seatbelt is required. FL may be 18 & under as well...not sure, though. I wear a seatbelt anyways..it's foolish not to do so.

 

[Aves]

It's legally required in Alabama.

 

[notfred]

Originally posted by: Turin39789
but the point is that he was not in control of his car at the time. He put his friends lives in a dangerous situation that he had no control over. If you are doing 100 mph on the highway and are sideswiped, you are responsible, its the same as doing 50 in a grocery parking lot and then claiming that it's not your fault because you had your car under control.

I agree though that it should not be a murder charge. But the kid did do something wrong.

I've done a 140mph run w/ a friend in the car. As we were doing it, we were talking about how it was a good place to do it since there were no other cars around, and how I couldn't kill anyone but myself and him. I said, "but you're a willing participant in this anyway". and he said "yeah, that's true". He knew that he got in the car willingly, and he never objected to taking the car up to 140mph. I doubt this kid's passengers were whouting at him to slow down.

 

[yakko]

The really sad part is that drunk drivers are usually charged with vehicular manslaughter but this kid is charged with murder.

 

[UNCjigga]

There was a local Cambodian girl (16 or 17) who got charged with vehicular homicide cuz of street racing not too long ago (the car she was racing lost control and the driver died.) The sick thing is, THIS GIRL HAD HER BABY SON IN THE CAR WHEN SHE RACED!!!

Vehicular homicide, yes. Murder...no.

 

[ElFenix]

Originally posted by: yakko
The really sad part is that drunk drivers are usually charged with vehicular manslaughter but this kid is charged with murder.

agreed

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

From Alabama statute:

Article 1 Homicide.
Section 13A-6-1 Definitions.
Section 13A-6-2 Murder.
Section 13A-6-3 Manslaughter.
Section 13A-6-4 Criminally negligent homicide



Section 13A-6-2
Murder.
(a) A person commits the crime of murder if:

(1) With intent to cause the death of another person, he causes the death of that person or of another person; or

(2) Under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life, he recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person other than himself, and thereby causes the death of another person; or

(3) He commits or attempts to commit arson in the first degree, burglary in the first or second degree, escape in the first degree, kidnapping in the first degree, rape in the first degree, robbery in any degree, sodomy in the first degree or any other felony clearly dangerous to human life and, in the course of and in furtherance of the crime that he is committing or attempting to commit, or in immediate flight therefrom, he, or another participant if there be any, causes the death of any person.

(b) A person does not commit murder under subdivisions (a)(1) or (a)(2) of this section if he was moved to act by a sudden heat of passion caused by provocation recognized by law, and before there had been a reasonable time for the passion to cool and for reason to reassert itself. The burden of injecting the issue of killing under legal provocation is on the defendant, but this does not shift the burden of proof. This subsection does not apply to a prosecution for, or preclude a conviction of, manslaughter or other crime.

(c) Murder is a Class A felony; provided, that the punishment for murder or any offense committed under aggravated circumstances, as provided by Article 2 of Chapter 5 of this title, is death or life imprisonment without parole, which punishment shall be determined and fixed as provided by Article 2 of Chapter 5 of this title or any amendments thereto.

(Acts 1977, No. 607, p. 812, §2005.)

Section 13A-6-3
Manslaughter.
(a) A person commits the crime of manslaughter if:

(1) He recklessly causes the death of another person, or

(2) He causes the death of another person under circumstances that would constitute murder under Section 13A-6-2; except, that he causes the death due to a sudden heat of passion caused by provocation recognized by law, and before a reasonable time for the passion to cool and for reason to reassert itself.

(b) Manslaughter is a Class B felony.

(Acts 1977, No. 607, p. 812, §2010; Acts 1987, No. 87-713, p. 1260.)

Section 13A-6-4
Criminally negligent homicide.
(a) A person commits the crime of criminally negligent homicide if he causes the death of another person by criminal negligence.

(b) The jury may consider statutes and ordinances regulating the actor's conduct in determining whether he is culpably negligent under subsection (a) of this section.

(c) Criminally negligent homicide is a Class A misdemeanor, except in cases in which said criminally negligent homicide is caused by the driver of a motor vehicle who is driving in violation of the provisions of Section 32-5A-191; in such cases criminally negligent homicide is a Class C felony.

(Acts 1977, No. 607, p. 812, §2015; Acts 1979, No. 79-664, p. 1163, §1; Acts 1988, 1st Sp. Sess., No. 88-916, p. 510, §1.)



Given the facts of the story (slim they may be at the moment), and Alabama's statutes, it appears like the District Attorney is justified in pursueing homicide charges. There are three flavors of murder for the DA to choose from. See bolded text above.

 

[Stark]

Originally posted by: kranky

Originally posted by: Stark
It's a tragedy that the parents lost their daughter, but nobody forced her into the car and nobody forced her not to wear a seatbelt. Part of parenting is raising them to be smart enough to survive on their own (and lucky enough to survive teen years).

What? So it's the girl's fault? Oh, brother.

No, I'm not blaming her, just pointing out that she did put herself in a dangerous situation. The driver was clearly at fault for reckless driving, but she probably would have died if they had been driving 55 and flipped. And the story never claims that any of the girls told him to slow down. Kids do dumb things. There's a difference between dumb (this case) and murderous (Columbine).

There should be some compelling reasons for 1. charging a minor as an adult and 2. charging him with murder. The driver is going to have a tough life because of this regardless. I don't understand how spending most of the rest of his life with bubba is going to benefit him, society, or anyone involved in the case.

 

[Mill]

(2) Under circumstances manifesting extreme indifference to human life, he recklessly engages in conduct which creates a grave risk of death to a person other than himself, and thereby causes the death of another person; or
I would like to see a DA prove Extreme Indifference to human life in this case. Not possible.

Section 13A-6-3
Manslaughter.
(a) A person commits the crime of manslaughter if:

(1) He recklessly causes the death of another person, or
This charge would work out great, but a class B felony might be hard to convict


(b) Manslaughter is a Class B felony.


Section 13A-6-4
Criminally negligent homicide.
(a) A person commits the crime of criminally negligent homicide if he causes the death of another person by criminal negligence.

(b) The jury may consider statutes and ordinances regulating the actor's conduct in determining whether he is culpably negligent under subsection (a) of this section.

(c) Criminally negligent homicide is a Class A misdemeanor, except in cases in which said criminally negligent homicide is caused by the driver of a motor vehicle who is driving in violation of the provisions of Section 32-5A-191; in such cases criminally negligent homicide is a Class C felony.

Best option is Criminally Negligent Homicide. It is a serious misdemeanor, but only a felony if alcohol is involved.


Given the facts of the story (slim they may be at the moment), and Alabama's statutes, it appears like the District Attorney is justified in pursueing homicide charges. There are three flavors of murder for the DA to choose from. See bolded text above.[/quote]


I am wish this person would be charged with something that is going to stick. Due to the fact that the part of Lakeshore Pkwy they were is on is all commercial and known for street racing the victim would have known why they were there. Secondly, due to lack of seatbelt there will be a problem with placing full blame on the driver. Thirdly, all the people in the car were willing particpants(no other contrary evidence has surfaced).

I say charge with Manslaughter and go from there. If poltics wasn't involved this debate would not be going on. November is coming the DA needs votes. He made the wrong call here as MURDER will not stick and no sane jury will convict. A grand jury may indict, but on down the line the DA is going to have to drop murder and pursue other avenues.

 

[Mill]

My brother just called me a few minutes ago. Our discussion got around to this case and he told me had been a close friend of one of the girls in the car(this was unknown to me as my brother and I are not very close). The girl whos name I will not mention told him the whole story. It seems they had been on the interstate speeding(120+) before they got off at Lakeshore. I asked him why they went down to Lakeshore. He said they went to watch/participate in the street races on the road. I asked if the girls were willing participates. He assure me that they knew full well what was going on and they didn't ask him to stop. He said that they had been speeding around all night.

What happened on Lakeshore is that they were trying to race someone who either didn't want to race or wasn't a street racer. The driver of the car with the girls in it tried to pass the non-racer at about 100 MPH. The driver then lost control and the car flipped. The girl that my brother is friends with said neither she nor the girl who died were wearing seatbelts. The girl that didn't die sustained arm injuries.