The Sentencing

I had nearly forgotten about the sentencing date.

Saturday am I was up watching the news, not really paying attention, and then I was jolted back into the reality of the trial I served as a juror on.  It was on the news!

I saw the victims mother testify before the judge before the sentencing. She was not present during the trial. It was noted that she lives on the East Coast I believe.  She spoke to the judge, asking for a long sentence for the man who took her daughter.

They showed a quick view of the people in the benches. I saw the lady to testifiied about her injuries. She was the one who got in trouble by the judge a few times. She spoke to the judge about her hardships since the Defendant had no insurance.  She claims to have $30,000 in medical bills and wants him locked up.  How will she get compensated when the man is in jail? 

After I watched the story on the news, I checked the web and Seattle Times had a  front page story. It claimed that the Defendant had several other Reckless driving convictions and at the time of the accident,  he was on house arrest for domestic violence.  His wife testified on his behalf at the trial. 

Many of the victims family members and friends are outraged at the Judge for suppressing the marijuana evidence.  The defendant could have had a much greater sentence if he was convicted driving under the influence. 

I still believe that the Judge did the right thing in suppressing that evidence. We saw that he did have marijuana in the car, but no method of using the marijuana was presented. No pipe, not even a lighter was found in his car.  In an earlier news story, it was said he had undigested marijuana in his system. None of the police officers or first responders who iterviewed the defendant at the time had any reason to belive he was impaired. As one comment on the Seattle TImes said, 'he wasn't stoned, he was just stupid".  Yes I believe that to be true.  He was driving recklessly, as he has apparently done many times before.  

Later that afternoon I heard on KOMO am 1000, the lead in for the story was "Man high from smoking marijuana gets 4.5 years in vehicular homicide"  Ok so that's a completely false headline. This is why  dislike the media. They sensationalize every story.   can't we we just have the facts, even if they are not as exciting as the made up story?