# If you're wealthy apparently the law does not apply to you **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 7, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752 "2010-11-07T01:10:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752/101 "2010-11-09T10:31:45Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Of course he is. The only reason, the ONLY reason Rand Rover is defending this guy is because he’s rich, and like a lot of other fatcat teabaggers out there, he believes the rich in this country are under attack, so right or wrong, they need a break. If this was a poor guy, what do you want to bet he’d be calling for his head. > Basically he’s the type of “damn the little people” asshole who gives rich Republicans a bad name. You have to remember this is the same guy who started a thread bitching about having to perform “pro bono bullshit.” Or he’s just trolling. It could be just another thing he gets to disagree with the majority of the board about, and get a little attention. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 12:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752/102 "2010-11-09T12:55:09Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > That’s what I took the quote above to be saying. Now try it after getting hit by Dumptyite, which strips the power you learned from Humpty to master words so that they mean what you want them to mean. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752/103 "2010-11-09T12:57:03Z")
> [@Palooka](#): > > Seems kind of weird that people are dismissing the “He only did a misdemeanor” comment from the prosecutor The prosecutor said no such thing. The prosecutor said that he committed a misdemeanor. This in no way indicates that he did not also commit the felony clearly indicated by the reported facts of the case. ---
**Author:** ![Archergal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c89c15/32.png) [@Archergal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Archergal)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752/104 "2010-11-09T16:39:49Z")
I saw an update this morning on [HuffPo](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/08/martin-erzinger-morgan-stanley-hit-and-run-_n_780294.html): > [@](#): > > UPDATE: > District Attorney Mark Hurlbert told HuffPost on Monday afternoon that news reports about the prosecution have been inaccurate. “We charged him with a felony, first of all,” he said. > > What’s happening is that prosecutors offered Erzinger a plea bargain for restitution and two misdemeanors potentially carrying two years of jail time. What the victim wants, Hurlbert said, is for Erzinger to plead guilty to the felony of leaving the scene of accident, causing serious bodily injury. Under that deal, judgment would be deferred and the felony would be cleared from his record after a few years of good behavior. The misdemeanors, though, would stay on Erzinger’s record permanently. There’s a little more, but I don’t want to overstep fair-use quoting. ---
**Author:** ![Chessic\_Sense](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7c8e57/32.png) [@Chessic\_Sense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chessic_Sense)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2010, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752/105 "2010-11-09T20:55:27Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > O.J .is in jail proving that rich people don’t get breaks in our system. I seem to recall a thread here about an article (study?) that showed that rich people are actually _more_ likely to go to jail and spend _more_ time there than the poor. It came out right after Britney Spears\* was let out of jail after serving half her sentence. The press came down on the district for it, but the article showed that Britney\* actually did more time than most people do for the same offence. WhackaMole - And anyway, I don’t see how my cases getting let off repeatedly is “a fucked up, broken system” but this is a case of “DA playing favorites”. Why aren’t they both due to a fucked up, overwhelmed, broken system? That’s what it sounds like to me. \*Mighta been Lohan ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752/106 "2010-11-10T03:50:11Z")
> [@Whack-a-Mole](#): > > I have a list of injuries which, if massively overstated, no one is gainsaying and if true at the very least suggest a court should make the determination. I have the cyclist’s attorney and the cyclist who seem pretty hot about it. I have a DA who is now in the center of a shit storm making no defense for himself that says the injuries, which are central to a determination of whether it is felony hit-and-run, don’t merit bringing those charges. I have a DA who stated his rationale for leaving it at a misdemeanor is because the accused has a good job. > > Yep…I got nothing. :rolleyes: I have been personally involved in cases with very high public profile with a media storm surrounding them in which certain key facts were never published by any primary media, even when the media were given press releases to relevant facts and third party sources from which to check that those facts were correct. That giving profile to said facts would have undermined the ability to maintain a tone of breathless unqualified outrage would, I’m sure, have had nothing to do with their editorial decisions. ---
**Author:** ![panaccione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/94ad74/32.png) [@panaccione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panaccione)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752/107 "2010-11-10T04:06:48Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > What, you can’t click on a link? > > From the article: > > I believe bleeding from the brain is generally considered ‘life threatening’, and spinal cord injuries represent a ‘substantial risk of protracted loss or impairment’. And what are you a doctor? Haha I’m jp ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752/108 "2010-11-10T04:24:19Z")
> [@Scotty Mo](#): > > And what are you a doctor? > > Haha I’m jp Are you a Doctor to contradict him? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752/109 "2010-11-10T04:37:36Z")
> [@Chessic\_Sense](#): > > I seem to recall a thread here about an article (study?) that showed that rich people are actually _more_ likely to go to jail and spend _more_ time there than the poor. It came out right after Britney Spears\* was let out of jail after serving half her sentence. The press came down on the district for it, but the article showed that Britney\* actually did more time than most people do for the same offence. > > WhackaMole - And anyway, I don’t see how my cases getting let off repeatedly is “a fucked up, broken system” but this is a case of “DA playing favorites”. Why aren’t they both due to a fucked up, overwhelmed, broken system? That’s what it sounds like to me. > > \*Mighta been Lohan I would have great trouble accepting such a study. the jails are full of poor people who take drugs like the suburbanites do. Banks are full of people rewarding themselves with huge bonuses after fraudulently destroying the economy of the world. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752/110 "2010-11-10T04:39:08Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > I would have great trouble accepting such a study. the jails are full of poor people who take drugs like the suburbanites do. Banks are full of people rewarding themselves with huge bonuses after fraudulently destroying the economy of the world. Word. ---
**Author:** ![mack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mack)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2010, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752/111 "2010-11-10T16:07:30Z")
[This, from the DA:](http://www.vaildaily.com/article/20101109/EDITS/101109849/1021&ParentProfile=1065) > [@](#): > > …Dr. Milo never asked me to plea Mr. Erzinger to a felony. Dr. Milo asked that I plead Mr. Erzinger to a felony deferred judgment and sentence. > > What this means is that Mr. Erzinger would plead to a felony leaving the scene of an accident, and the judgment would be set aside. > > In either two or four years, as long as Mr. Erzinger met certain conditions, the case would drop off his record and he would be allowed to seal this case. > […] > …while Dr. Milo was still probably recovering from his injuries, Mr. Erzinger would be able to say that he had no criminal history and even deny that anything had happened. That is not something I could stomach. > > I therefore offered that Mr. Erzinger plead guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and careless driving causing serious bodily injury. > > This means that for the rest of his life, Mr. Erzinger will have on his record that he carelessly drove, caused another human being serious bodily injury and left the scene. He will lose his driver’s license, face potential jail time as determined by the judge and still have to pay restitution, > […] > Obviously there is a benefit to Mr. Erzinger on taking the misdemeanors – he keeps his job. Why would Milo ask the DA to plead Erzinger to “felony deferred judgment and sentence.”? I wonder if Morgan Stanley would keep Erzinger on in either case. ---
**Author:** ![Mince](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@Mince](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mince)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752/112 "2010-11-11T04:55:10Z")
Regardless of pleas, or degree of felony, or stature, the guy (apparently) struck another human being with his vehicle and fled. Is it better for this individual to be in prison or managing your investments? ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2010, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752/113 "2010-11-11T09:08:08Z")
> [@mack](#): > > Why would Milo ask the DA to plead Erzinger to “felony deferred judgment and sentence.”? Restitution angle maybe? > [@gonzomax](#): > > I would have great trouble accepting such a study. the jails are full of poor people who take drugs like the suburbanites do. Banks are full of people rewarding themselves with huge bonuses after fraudulently destroying the economy of the world. Undoubtedly the poor are convicted of more criminal offences. It could be that the study was comparing the sentences received by rich and poor _who have been convicted of the same offence_. I don’t know if that is correct (sounds weird to me) but it is at least not obviously wrong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-youre-wealthy-apparently-the-law-does-not-apply-to-you/559752.md?page=5)