A plea for your thought and prayers

[Dr Mordrid]

I hope he gets a hanging judge, but I'm a bit surprised at the chages because in a similar case here the perp was tried and convicted of 2nd degree murder.

[Kruzin]

I hope he gets a hanging judge, but I'm a bit surprised at the chages because in a similar case here the perp was tried and convicted of 2nd degree murder.

Trust me, I hope 1000000x more that he get a hanging judge.
The guy is a scumbag that has a sizable record all across the country, which includes convictions on burglary, trafficing drugs and more moving violations than I can remember.
I want him to do some real jail time.
Unfortunatly, that's not likely to happen.
At best, he'll plead out and do a month or two.
If he doesn't flee.

As far as the charges go, Colorado is a totally different world than Michigan (I am from Dearborn originally.)
Colorado is mosty a bunch of sympathetic tree huggers that excuse almost any crime.

Even the civil lawsuits in this type of case are capped. Normally, a wrongful death suit can't go beyond ~420k, unless proved to be a felonious death (which we have here, based on the charges).
Even then, my lawyer (who is a high-power, widely recognized guy in this field in Colo) says his biggest settlement in 20+ years has been under 800k.

If this had happened in Wyo, where I'm living now, the guy would be in the clink by now....

[Dr Mordrid]

Colorado is mosty a bunch of sympathetic tree huggers that excuse almost any crime.

Sounds like it! In todays Michigan about 90% of the liberal judges you wouldn't want to appear in front of for a case like this. Gruesome.

I was a witness in a case about 10 years ago where the Chief Judge in the district had a real slime in court for arraignment; spousal abuse, marital rape, rape of his 12 year old daughter, etc. By the time the prosecutor finished reading off the charges this blue-as-hell liberal was purple above the collar and sweating. Had to adjourn for 20 min to compose himself.

[KRSESQ]

Even the civil lawsuits in this type of case are capped. Normally, a wrongful death suit can't go beyond ~420k, unless proved to be a felonious death (which we have here, based on the charges).
Even then, my lawyer (who is a high-power, widely recognized guy in this field in Colo) says his biggest settlement in 20+ years has been under 800k.

Unfortunately I wouldn't hold out much hope for a civil settlement. From your description it sounds like this character has nothing to lose (I hope I'm wrong, of course).

But at least seeing him behind bars might give you SOME closure.

[Kruzin]

Unfortunately I wouldn't hold out much hope for a civil settlement. From your description it sounds like this character has nothing to lose (I hope I'm wrong, of course).

But at least seeing him behind bars might give you SOME closure.

As far as the civil lawsuit goes, he was driving a company truck, on the clock. Their insurance is on the hook too. His employer should not have been letting him drive. They are named first in the suit, and are heavily insured. There will be a settlement.

While seeing him do time would help, the real closure will only come with his trial, where hopefully we get an answer to WHY it happened. We still have no idea what really caused it...

[cjolley]

...
While seeing him do time would help, the real closure will only come with his trial, where hopefully we get an answer to WHY it happened. We still have no idea what really caused it...

Amazing.
Has the DA told you anything about a theory of a cause?

[Kruzin]

Amazing.
Has the DA told you anything about a theory of a cause?

We have a meeting with the DA in 2 weeks, hopefully we can get some answers then.

All we know is that witnesses noted he was "distracted". Initially it was though he was texting while driving, but apparently his phone records don't show that.

[Kruzin]

Well, it's been a long, tedious wait.
Boxes of paperwork.

Short version...
Guy who killed my son pled guilty to everything, including the felony charge.
For this plea, the DA agreed not to send him to the state penn. He will likely do a few months in the county jail, and maybe a year or two in a halfway house.

Sentancing is this Friday.

Civil suit hits the court next April.

[Dr Mordrid]

That deal is insanely stupid. Around here they'd have hammered him like a railroad spike.

IMO cases like this shouldn't be eligible for plea bargains.

[KRSESQ]

Insanely stupid indeed. Probably a case of overcrowding or lack of funding. Their logic no doubt is, "at least outside he'll be working and paying taxes instead of being a drain."

That is, of course, assuming he wasn't already a drain :/ .

[Kruzin]

Yea, the idea is if he goes to a work release type thing in a halfway house, he can at least earn something to start paying his debts. His wages will be garnished, and maybe some of the 6-digit hospital bill can start to get paid....

[Umfriend]

So what did the guy say actually happened?

[Dr Mordrid]

So what did the guy say actually happened?

Yeah, an allocution statement is usually required of the defendant in plea bargains. If it were my relative nothing short of a full public confession & suicide would do from this slimy POS.

Sorry - but after all my years in a major trauma center dealing with the aftermath of incidents like this my feelings towards these morons have become more than harsh.

[Kruzin]

Unfortunatly, he is not required by law to say a damn word about how it happened. And he hasn't, and probably won't. Even if he did, there's no way to believe what he's saying is true.

In the original accident report, he claimed the throttle stuck open on the truck, and he was bent over trying to free the pedal. The investigation did not find anything wrong with the truck, which was impouned for months, and picked apart with a fine tooth comb by our specialist, his specialist and the DA's specialist.

The DA is convinced he was texting while driving, but his phone records don't show that for certain either.

It's been the hardest part of this to accept, but we've had to come to terms with the fact that we are never gonna know for sure what really happened.

We find our comfort in knowing that Bobby helped litterally over 120 people with his organ and tissue donations. He saved several lives outright, and improved the lives of dozens of others. One of his retinas went all the way to British isles, and there are parts of him all over the USA. We even heard from the family of the young man who got his liver, along with pictures and a very touching letter.

[Dr Mordrid]

^^^^---- Bobby's gifts of life are the only good things to come out of this senseless tragedy.

No legal requirement for an allocution with a plea deal?!?