Interesting Jail Sentence

[Ben]

A drunk driver gets 120 days for killing a woman while he was driving with twice the legal limit. After the 120 days, he then has to serve one week each year for another nine years on the anniversary of the woman's death.

I thought that was an interesting sentence. While not taking away his ability to support himself and his family (if he has one), he has to spend a week a year with nothing to do but remember what he did wrong. Seems like it would also be a strong deterrent to backsliding and driving drunk again, vs just getting six months or something and being done and then maybe five or ten years down the road being stupid again.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2017/02/23/drunk-driver-gets-unusual-jail-sentence-as-reminder-woman-killed.html

[KD5NRH]

Still nowhere near enough.  DUI isn't something that happens by accident; it requires a chain of conscious, voluntary decisions without regard to the consequences.

[Ben]

Still nowhere near enough.  DUI isn't something that happens by accident; it requires a chain of conscious, voluntary decisions without regard to the consequences.

I agree that this is more of a sentence for non-lethal DUI. Maybe put the first part at a year plus (depending on circumstances) but then still have the short "reminder" prison terms.

I'm actually curious as to what our legal eagles think about this in terms of "multiple sentences" for the single crime.

[Firethorn]

I'm actually curious as to what our legal eagles think about this in terms of "multiple sentences" for the single crime.

Not a legal eagle, but I know that judges have fairly standardly sentenced people to jail only on the weekends for extended periods in order to ensure that they can still work.

[Ben]

Not a legal eagle, but I know that judges have fairly standardly sentenced people to jail only on the weekends for extended periods in order to ensure that they can still work.

I knew about those, but I'd only heard of them in terms of "a year of weekends" or similar. It certainly might have been done before, but this is the first time I've seen a part-time sentence that spans ten years.

[grampster]

What would be the difference between the imposed sentence under discussion and requiring several years of probation after release from an original sentence to jail?  I don't see any difference.

[MechAg94]

What would be the difference between the imposed sentence under discussion and requiring several years of probation after release from an original sentence to jail?  I don't see any difference.

I assumed he would be on probation during the years he was required to spend a week in jail. 

[MechAg94]

The Javadis said they were never interested in seeing Elwell locked up for life, but rather acting on advice given to them by their attorneys that drunken drivers convicted of intoxication manslaughter often receive probation instead of years behind bars.

I think I would rather see the person locked up for a couple years instead.  According to the article, it seems they are often given extended probation.  The killer being immediately released on probation would be difficult to see.

However, a better way to insure the guy remembers their daughter would be to sue him for wrongful death so he can't afford another BMW for a while.