Kill two people? Get probation in Texas.

[grove rat]

With him still breathing.

[aggie97]

How is this not intoxication manslaughter? Thought that was the new law for killing while drunk driving. Automatic charges and case winning...?

[Fry86]

I knew the guy that caused the wreck, he will hurt some one else drinking and driving.

Sent from a bathroom.

[Ruffdaddy]

How has this not turned into a FTP thread yet? And no one mentions the unlicensed driver?

Change these two facts and this guy spends at least 10 years behind bars

[GrayStangGT]

How is this not intoxication manslaughter? Thought that was the new law for killing while drunk driving. Automatic charges and case winning...?

That is what he was convicted of, I guess there isn't a mandatory sentence.

A jury found Joel Tavarez guilty Friday on two counts of intoxication manslaughter and two counts of intoxication assault.

[The King]

These people have been staring us down like we did something wrong you know?

Stare back and roaches invariably avert their eyes downward, where they belong.

[stephen4785]

That's insane. I know a guy who got drunk at his graduation party and killed someone on his way home. He ended spending 19 years in jail and is on probation for another 10.

[Somewhere in Time]

I also new a guy right out of high school who got drunk, killed someone street racing and got 10 yrs.

[theminch]

It's sad. I work for tolerant county. It blows my mind the individuals I run across and their criminal history. 80 percent of cases in tarrant county for example, are dwi's. Majority get probation. It's frustrating, especially because they are the individuals who never get hurt

[Baba Ganoush]

Well, it costs the county $55 a day to incarcerate someone, and only about $4 to probate his sentence. The system is more interested in money than serving justice, at times.

[svauto-erotic855]

I am sure the jury had their reasons for coming back with probation as punishment but I will be damned if I can figure it out.

I know a man who fell asleep at the wheel and crossed the center median crashing head on into a car killing 4 people. He was not drunk or on drugs but he tested + for speed which he admitted to using 3 days before the crash. He got 4 concurrent 20 year sentences at trial and is haunted by the deaths. I doubt that he has had a full nights sleep in the past 25 years. I do not believe that his accident was anything other than an accident.

[ToRqUeTwIsTeR]

I understand that young individuals make mistakes. I am sure we have all at some point got behind the wheel and shouldn't have. As a person I couldn't see locking a kid or somebody younger than 24 up for the most important years of his/her life granted that his/her prior record was mostly clean with nothing habitual. Anybody else should get 10-15 years per count in my eyes.

Probation with Community service and having to publically speak about your choices should be enough alone with living with the fact that you took another person(s) life due to your inability of making proper choices.

[juiceweezl]

I understand that young individuals make mistakes. I am sure we have all at some point got behind the wheel and shouldn't have. As a person I couldn't see locking a kid or somebody younger than 24 up for the most important years of his/her life granted that his/her prior record was mostly clean with nothing habitual. Anybody else should get 10-15 years per count in my eyes.

Probation with Community service and having to publically speak about your choices should be enough alone with living with the fact that you took another person(s) life due to your inability of making proper choices.

And you wonder why today's youth suck. It's because of this attitude. Have you not heard, "Spare the rod and spoil the child!" Do you think that IF this kid started speaking against drinking and driving that it would do any good to anyone? Any kid that hears the story is going to know one thing and one thing only -- the guy was drunk, killed some people, and got off with only probation. That sure is a big deterrent. It would be better if they threw the kid on death row and did a story about how bad drinking and driving is in an effort to scare the piss out of everyone young and old.

[halo/horns]

Damn, I'd like to hear the specifics of that case, the defense attorney must be a master of bullshit.

Oh, he was something alright-

"During closing arguments, Brian Carney, one of the defense attorneys, blamed Vela for not doing all she could to prevent the collision. He recounted testimony that Vela, an unlicensed driver, was looking in the back seat with the dome light on and was not paying attention to the road."

[ToRqUeTwIsTeR]

And you wonder why today's youth suck. It's because of this attitude. Have you not heard, "Spare the rod and spoil the child!" Do you think that IF this kid started speaking against drinking and driving that it would do any good to anyone? Any kid that hears the story is going to know one thing and one thing only -- the guy was drunk, killed some people, and got off with only probation. That sure is a big deterrent. It would be better if they threw the kid on death row and did a story about how bad drinking and driving is in an effort to scare the piss out of everyone young and old.

Okay...same story but it is your kid facing the jury. Does your thoughts still remain the same? Maybe you don't have children and that's why you feel the way you do. I for one know people that have been on both ends of this nightmare. It sucks no doubt about it but I can't see throwing the book at a kid who hasn't even started life as an adult unless the kid is a habitual problem.

This is not what's wrong with kids today either.....the parents or lack there of is what's wrong with them.