by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
While I have never been a supporter of the death penalty, there was at least one time in my life when I seriously wavered in my resolve on the issue. In October of 1989 two teen brothers, both of whom I knew, murdered my friend, Dan Short, the President of the State Bank of Noel. They took Dan hostage at his home in northwest Arkansas, transported him to the bank in southwest Missouri where they robbed the facility, and then drove their prisoner to Grand Lake of The Cherokees in northeast Oklahoma where they duct-taped him to a chair that had been weighted down with cement blocks, and dropped the doomed banker off of a bridge and into several hundred feet of cold lake water.
If ever there was a instance that merited the death penalty, that night of three-state criminal mayhem - a kidnapping in one state, bank robbery in another, and a heinous, sadistic murder in a third - should have certainly been a contender for the honor. But even then, with a victim whom I knew well, my heart told me that murder as a response to murder is wrong.
There was a crime in Delray Beach, Florida, this past January that was every bit savage and senseless as Dan Short's execution. A teen driver who fancied himself a social media star, back-ended a Nissan Rogue SUV carrying six farmworkers, killing all six. The youth, who was seventeen at the time but has since turned eighteen, is being charged with six counts of vehicular manslaughter, with each count being a felony charge that is punishable by up to fifteen years in prison.
The driver, who was behind the wheel of a 2019 BMW that had his Instagram handle emblazoned on the driver and passenger sides and back window of his car, had reportedly previously done racing stunts for social media attention. He also had a video on Instagram offering $25 to anyone who could guess his speed.
Police reports stated that the driver of the BMW was traveling 151 m.p.h. when he hit the Nissan Rogue. The high speed collision occurred with such force that it compacted the rear of the Nissan several feet into its passenger compartment and caused that car to flip over several times before finally coming to rest on its top in the median of the highway. Five of the passengers were pronounced dead at the scene, and the sixth died at a nearby hospital.
The driver of the BMW was also taken to a local hospital where he told doctors that he had been going 120 m.p.h at the time of the collision. According to a report in. "People" magazine, hospital staff reported smelling an odor of alcohol on the driver.
The driver was arrested in April and held at a juvenile detention center. He will be tried in court as an adult.
The victims were Mirlaine Innocent Julceus (45), Remize Michel (53), Marie Michelle Louis (60), Michel Louis Saint (77), Filaine Dieu (46), and Vanice Percina (29).
Relatives of the victims have already begun filing lawsuits for damages against the family of the driver.
The driver's name is Noah Thomas Galle. His police mug shot reveals him to be a caucasian, and the 2019 BMW that he was driving (reportedly a $100,000 vehicle) could be an indicator that he is a son of privilege. He has pleaded "not guilty" to all six charges of vehicular manslaughter.
Six productive human beings are dead and six families are irretrievably broken, all so that a self-absorbed teenager could have his fifteen minutes of fame on the internet. The state of Florida is about to deal with a willful monster, and while execution is not an option, six individual fifteen-year sentences does sound like punishment that would fit the crime.
Let him see how fast he can drive at the age of one-hundred-and-eight!
1 comment:
All Nissan Rogue vehicles have an Event Data Recorder, black box technology, that takes a snapshot of How various systems in the vehicle were operating, whether or not the driver and passenger safety belts were buckled/fastened, how far (if at all) the driver was depressing the accelerator and/or brake pedal, and how fast the vehicle was traveling; no sounds are recorded. The driver's vehicle, the 2019 BMW also has an EDR which was likely tied in to the car's camera system. What the negligent driver should have seen and reacted to may well up being viewed by a jury at his trial.
Pleading not guilty at the initial appearance is actually the only plea a defendant can make, other than no contest. That is because the law requires a defendant charged with a felony tell the judge what he did, element of the offense by element of the offense, thus foreclosing any possibility that, at a later date, the defendant can recant the admissions of guilt made under oath and on the record. All too often reports of pleading not guilty sound like an accusation that the defendant is not telling the truth. The initial appearance is not the place to plead guilty and such a plea would not be entered by the court.
The state makes the easiest to prove initial charge, here it is vehicular manslaughter. Florida's statutes on point are complex and depending on the facts of the case the charge can be amended to a more serious offense. For instance, under Florida law if the defendant was eluding police officers at the time he rear ended the other vehicle he may be charged with murder in the third degree which constitutes a felony of the second degree, a more serious charge.
Post a Comment