Do petitions have an effect on verdicts when it comes to drunk driving cases where a death is involved?
Thursday, January 29th, 2009 at
11:40 pm
superintense asked:
This is the deal…our family’s best friend son (who was
was in the car when his 72-year-old great uncle was heavily drinking (over 3x the legal limit)..the uncle dropped our family’s best friend son and his adopted son off at Chuck E. Cheese, went to the liquor store next door, got extremely intoxicated in the parking lot, and then picked them up. On the way home, he got into an accident that resulted in the death of the 8 year old. I am looking to create a petition for the people who support that the person responsible receives the maximum punishment. This would be presented at the trial with the impact statements, does anyone (preferably a lawyer) believe this will make a difference?
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This is the deal…our family’s best friend son (who was
was in the car when his 72-year-old great uncle was heavily drinking (over 3x the legal limit)..the uncle dropped our family’s best friend son and his adopted son off at Chuck E. Cheese, went to the liquor store next door, got extremely intoxicated in the parking lot, and then picked them up. On the way home, he got into an accident that resulted in the death of the 8 year old. I am looking to create a petition for the people who support that the person responsible receives the maximum punishment. This would be presented at the trial with the impact statements, does anyone (preferably a lawyer) believe this will make a difference?Caffeinated Content
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What you are talking about is, basically, a victim impact statement signed by a lot of “strangers”. (A “stranger”, in legal terms, is any person without legal standing in the case).
Victim Impact Statements do have an impact on judges sentencing decisions, but not a large one.
Someone who got blasted while caring for two small children and then picked them up drunk and killed one of them in a drunken crash os almost certainly looking at the maximum anyway.
Richard
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In my experience, judges actually go out of their way not to allow such petition drives to influence them. This is seen as akin to mob rule and judges are not real enthusiastic supporters of that kind of thing.
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Where I live it may be read during the sentencing phase of the trial. Maybe. The defense attorney should object to it then the judge will rule.
It should not come in during the guilt/innocence part of the trial.
It may be cathartic to the community. However, I would keep it very factual and not emotional. If it is too emotional it may effect its admissibility (in the mind of the judge).
More importantly, the people who sign will not want to be second guessing themselves in the years to come. Just the facts mam, just the facts.