I am outraged that this peckerhead has gotten away with a slap on the wrist. Janklow has a criminal driving record going back years and years. Now he’s managed to kill someone with his disregard and carelessness and he gets what amounts to a slap on the wrist.
Let’s see…he gets 100 days in the slammer, only it’s not really because he is out doing “community service” for ten hours a day, six days a week. So he actually only spends 14 days in the can and 100 nights.
Then he loses his license for the duration of his three years’ probation, which is no hardship for someone with his means, and then his record is expunged.
This, apparently, is what passes for justice for the wealthy and influential as long as they’re really, really sorry that they got caught…oops!..I mean killed someone, taking away everything they have or ever will have. The fuckwit judge should be recalled.
The man has a consistant history of speeding, the fucktards license should have been suspended a LONG time ago. Something tells me if this had a been a family of 4 in a minivan and he killed a little girl, he would have gotten alot more than the slap on the wrist. Hell’s Angels need to make a trip through town and pay this piece of shit a visit.
This issue has some similarities to that involving PA legislator Tom Druce, who struck and killed a pedestrian during the wee hours a few years ago. Although a staunch promoter of DUI legislation, his sobriety was questionable, according to those with whom he had been in company hours before the incident. He left the scene of the accident, had his vehicle quietly repaired and then turned it back in to the leasing company, and lied to his insurance carrier-explaining the damage had taken place when he struck a construction barrel on the turnpike. He’s out of prison, IIRC he served a few months time, after a series of legal finagles.
Had the same offense been committed by you or me, we’d be in jail. Period.
Incidents such as these support the general opinion that lawyers and politicians are a pack of self-serving bastards who all ought to rot.
For me, this sentence is less a case of special treatment and more a symbol of an out-of-whack justice system, where driving offences–especially when they kill someone–are still not being taken seriously enough. We seem to be happy enough to put people away for non-violent marijuana offences, but not for killing another human being through a persistent pattern of dangerous behaviour.
I’m not a fan of mandatory minimums, and i think judges should have discretion, but it seems to me that stronger penalties for drunk driving and negligent driving-related fatalities might have a stronger deterrent effect.
Here’s a case in SD from 1996 where a guy who killed two construction workers got convicted of man2 and got 10 years per victim. I don’t know the specifics of the case other than what I read in this appeal. It could have been a different set of circumstances, of course.
Here’s a story from SD which analyzes the AP’s search of 40 man2 cases since 1989. Inconclusive, as they don’t always have all the info.
This is not to defend Janklow. I think he got off pretty easy.
The Congressweasel is sixty-something. He was not driving drunk, nor was he on a suspended license. I would suppose the average judge sees worse cases most months.
Still he killed a guy.
Punishment? All I can say is it make me glad I am not a judge. The guy has lost his job, lost his place at the (legal) bar. As a public man, he has been shamed in public.
What punishment could be enough? Would locking the guy up for a year or so really help? How?
None of these people are politicians or people with influence. This was found with a minimum of search effort, so I’m sure there are legions of the same sort of stories. If you believe that Jankow and others like him don’t get special treatment in the courts, you have to be incredibly naive.
rumor has it that the family of scott is sueing janklow. the part that frosts me is that janklow can claim he was on his way back from a speach, and therefore his employer pays. If the Scott family wins, as i think they should, the american taxpayer gets the bill.
saddest part is, mr janklow’s 100 days are in the minnehaha county jail, not the SD state penitentiary. if i honestly felt this man was truly remorseful, i would say that it is a just penalty, but i don’t really believe he is. his attitude that he is above the law remains. he is one cocky sob who thinks the rules apply to us common people but in south dakota he acts like he is some sort of god.
Well at least this politician actually was charged and sentenced for his crime, another senator from Tennessee escaped charges IIRC after a fatal hit and run and later had a freeway named after him, the same stretch of hwy where he killed a motorcyclist.
I’m not outraged by this sentence at all, and I love to see a republican congressman go to jail as much as the next guy.
Given what I know of the circumstances, I think it’s reasonable. AFAIK, the congressman didn’t have a significant record (certainly nothing on this order of magnitude), he didn’t intentionally hit the guy, wasn’t drunk, etc. I don’t think I’m the only one here who speeds and has accidently run a stop sign or two. What happened was tragic, but it’s an accident. Considering that this case has pretty much ended Janklow’s lifelong career, I think 100 days in jail and 3 years probation is just about right.
Chefguy: I think the cases you’ve cited are too different from this one to reasonably compare to it. Find a case involving accidental vehicular manslaughter by someone with no priors who was not under the influence at the time of the accident.
I dunno. Ordinarily I’m in favor of harsher sentences, especially for public figures (who should serve as an example of good behavior), but he was doing 71 in a 55. Who here can deny ever doing that? I do it every day.
I don’t know the circumstances of the accident but it WAS an accident, right? The congressman was sober, right? Did he flee the scene, try to hide, have his car secretly repaired or torched?
I’d understand calling for his blood if he had been going 90 in a 25 mph school zone, or something. But this seems more like a genuine, tragic accident that could have happened to any of us who drive on highways.
In my State Bricker, vehicular homicide (reckless or drunken driving causing the death of another) is a Class D felony and good for a five years stay in the big house with date of release dependent on the will of the parole board. We will not even go into the stuffing of the parole board with ex-legislators as a reward to the Jesus wing of the his party by a former Governor. The word here is that if you want favorable treatment from the parole board you better find Jesus and you better find His ass damned quick.
But, yea, in Iowa Congressman J. would have gotten five years.
Correction - speeding and blowing through a stop sign. The fact that he was esitmated at going substantially over the speed limit in the intersection also means there was no attempt at all to stop, the victim had the right of way.
it’s not tragic or a ‘genuine’ accident IMHO, unless one has no reason to believe that their actions would not cause a death. However going that speed through an intersection when the other road has the right of way does not (IMHO) qualify as ‘no reason to believe’.
Hell, it’s still 100 days more than Ted Kennedy ever got for the death of Mary Jo Kopechne. (And, please…don’t tell me he was never ‘charged’ with her death! Like the cops in Edgartown would ever charge a Kennedy with ANYTHING serious!)
Sorry, wring, blowing thru a stop sign sure does make a difference. But do you think he saw the stop sign and decided he didn’t need to stop for it? Or did he never see it at all? Would he certainly have seen it at 55 or 60 or 65 mph, but not at 71?
I’ve run stop signs accidentally, too, once or twice in my life. I hope I’m not a particularly dangerous driver – I try to take great care – but my point is driving is kinda dangerous, period.
Maybe this could be recast as a “seniors shouldn’t drive” story, rather than “senators shouldn’t drive.” Or maybe “diabetics shouldn’t drive.” Or maybe “motorcycles offer less protection than automobiles.” Or maybe “speed limits should be much lower than 55 on roads with stop signs.”
I don’t know what caused this accident, but I don’t see evidence that it was caused by sheer assholism. I pity the congressman as well as the victim.
