JohnC Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 I 100% respect your point of view and won't shed any tears if he goes to jail. And that story is awful. But I do think most people won't get jail. JMO. Dumb thing and he is lucky it wasn't much, much worse. But he didn't hit anyway and hopefully he grew up. No excuses, but Darues has had a pretty tough life. Hopefully, this was his wake up call. If the standard in the community he was arrested in doesn't call for jail time then he shouldn't get it. If the standard is that someone who was recently arrested for other transgressions and is then involved in another criminal transgression does get jail time then he should be subjected to the same standard. In the other tragic case I cited it should be noted that the son was an only child. reckless endangerment type stuff pretty much is you coulda killed or hurt someone. If every transgression was prosecuted by charging people for what could have happened, where would you draw the line? Jaywalking may as well be manslaughter. http://espn.go.com/m...eckless-driving Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddenboy Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 (edited) This thread is moving away from the OP's question: Was Dareus smart to reject the deal, and can law-types chime in? ---- That said, the tangent you guys are onto is a classic law school classroom debate topic: - Should the penalty in a criminal case be determined by the outcome? The very long answer is, usually, NO. In criminal law, you punish the Conduct. The idea IIRC is that the consequence to society of the 500 drunk drivers who dont hurt anyone vs. the 1 drunk who does, is reflected in the overall punishment scheme by the legislature (not saying I agree). The result is the opposite in civil / tort law. If you commit a tort you are responsible for all reasonably foreseeable consequences, and "reasonably" is stretched pretty far (the "eggshell plaintiff" line). ---- Edited February 11, 2015 by maddenboy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Damian Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 (edited) Trial by jury is smart IMO...just make sure all of the jurors are Bills fans! Plus, if you want to get re-elected as a DA in WNY, you might want to NOT convict Bills players. Not saying they should get away with murder, but no one was hurt except Dareus' car. Edited February 11, 2015 by Damian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 This thread is moving away from the OP's question: Was Dareus smart to reject the deal, and can law-types chime in? ---- That said, the tangent you guys are onto is a classic law school classroom debate topic: - Should the penalty in a criminal case be determined by the outcome? The very long answer is, usually, NO. In criminal law, you punish the Conduct. The idea IIRC is that the consequence to society of the 500 drunk drivers who dont hurt anyone vs. the 1 drunk who does, is reflected in the overall punishment scheme by the legislature (not saying I agree). The result is the opposite in civil / tort law. If you commit a tort you are responsible for all reasonably foreseeable consequences, and "reasonably" is stretched pretty far (the "eggshell plaintiff" line). ---- If the standard in the jurisdiction for his type of offense is jail time then he should do jail time. If the standard in the jurisdiction for his type of offense is not to do jail time then that standard should be applied to him. It seems to me that the facts of the case are known and are difficult to challegne. Apparently the defense believes that what the prosecutor is offering is too harsh. On the other side of the coin the prosecutor probably believes that the defense has little room to maneuver. As you suggested that in these type of cases "signals" are given by the court as to what the level of sentencing is going to be before there is a trial. There is no doubt that the court prefers a deal so that a trial can be avoided. From my vantage point it appears to me that because there isn't much to challenge with regards to the facts of the case that the prosecution is in a better negotiating stance. If that is the case then it makes more sense for them to hold their ground. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. WEO Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 Agreed. In my experience, the smaller the stakes, the less time the prosecution spends on it. 1) Young, inexperienced deputy attorneys need practice. If you wanna set a drag-racing case for trial, go ahead. It'll take 2-3 days, max, and that includes jury selection and probably even deliberation. 2) We cant be seen as giving favors to the rich / famous. (And gotta be careful also to not be seen as persecuting them). 3) More deals get struck where the Defendant has multiple outstanding cases. 4) Stop drag-racing on my streets. 5) The evidence is not going to change much in a criminal case. Its not like the defense is going to suddenly find an expert to blow up my case. So, my plea offer is not likely to get better. Generally, no new deal unless there's new info. 6) yes, judges generally pressure both sides to resolve a case, but they cant force it. The best they can do on day of trial is give an indicated sentence (wink wink) if D pleads. But (at least in Calif), the judge cant (really) just dismiss charges. 7) Not to be cynical, but given the above, there's not much benefit to rejecting the deal except the lawyer gets to bill more, and Dareus gets his "day in court." There's also not much downside in small-stakes cases, since the unwritten rule is that, after trial, Judges dont sentence you to worse than the last best plea deal offer (shouldnt punish you for exercising your right to trial - - - a 'rule' i always thought was stupid, and I used to refuse to tell the judge my last offer - - because part of my offer was the risk I might lose, and that risk is gone now that youre convicted). This is a great point. And a great post! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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