# So if you want to kill someone and get a light sentence, get drunk and use your car **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 12, 2010, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212 "2010-03-12T06:20:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212/41 "2010-03-14T20:11:38Z")
I feel like a rube for saying this, but isn’t intent a huge part of what determines a sentence for killing someone? Being drunk won’t excuse you from a murder charge if it can be shown that you intentionally ran someone over with your car and killed them, but it will excuse you from one if you happen to accidentally kill someone while driving drunk. Right? ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212/42 "2010-03-14T21:55:32Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Being drunk won’t excuse you from a murder charge if it can be shown that you intentionally ran someone over with your car and killed them, but it will excuse you from one if you happen to accidentally kill someone while driving drunk. Right? Yes, intent is important. That’s why negligent homicide is punished much less severely than first degree murder. But there are those who argue that if one chooses to drive drunk, aware of the dangers of such, then he has waived any moral right to argue about intent. An analogy can be made to the felony murder doctrine: in many states, if you kill someone during the commission of a felony, even if you never intended to hurt anyone, you will be charged with first degree murder for the crime. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2010, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212/43 "2010-03-14T23:23:51Z")
Ban SUVs, or make their operation require a special license that’s really hard to get (and you have to have a good reason to get it, like 5 kids), drastically drop speed limits, mandate breathalyzers on all ignitions, re-urbanize . . . it all sounds extreme but it would save thousands of lives per year. The alternative is somethin somethin freedom somethin presumption of guilt somethin somethin wake up earlier for work blah blah Iwannaliveinthecountrydriveatankat75mphanddodonutsonthefreewayit’smyrightgoddamnitI’manAmerican. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212/44 "2010-03-15T13:55:40Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > An analogy can be made to the felony murder doctrine: in many states, if you kill someone during the commission of a felony, even if you never intended to hurt anyone, you will be charged with first degree murder for the crime. Well it goes a lot further than that - if someone is killed in the commission of a felony, and you are a participant in the felony, you can be charged with felony murder, whether or not you took any part in the actions that killed the person. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212/45 "2010-03-15T19:02:15Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > \An analogy can be made to the felony murder doctrine: in many states, if you kill someone during the commission of a felony, even if you never intended to hurt anyone, you will be charged with first degree murder for the crime. Hmm - it doesn’t sound like a far stretch from that to the guy with the suspended license killing someone while driving with no license - he was already involved in a crime when he hit and killed someone. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2010, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212/46 "2010-03-15T19:36:08Z")
Driving on a suspended license isn’t a felony. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212/47 "2010-03-16T00:45:16Z")
I looked that up - I think it might be. It probably depends on your location and how often you do it. ---
**Author:** ![Cumberdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@Cumberdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cumberdale)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212/48 "2010-03-16T01:11:14Z")
Hey, if you kill a bicyclist you don’t even have to get drunk. ---
**Author:** ![AClockworkMelon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aclockworkmelon/32/10803_2.png) [@AClockworkMelon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AClockworkMelon)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212/49 "2010-03-16T01:26:24Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > With the perpetrators of victimless crimes filling our prisons to capacity, of course you have to give some felons a pass. We have a winner! ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212/50 "2010-03-16T13:56:48Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > With the perpetrators of victimless crimes filling our prisons to capacity, of course you have to give some felons a pass. > [@AClockworkMelon](#): > > We have a winner! No, we don’t. I find it quite ignorant actually. First off, these are mostly not felonies. Secondly, the fact that these victimless crimes (i.e drug offenses) haven’t been reduced by high incarceration rates should clue you in that it might not be the way to go. DUI, on the other hand, has been steadily reduced over the last few years. That should indicate to you that the current approach of public education, roadside stops, license suspensions, breathalyzer ignition locks, etc is working. We should be deciding how we can improve upon those methods, rather than howling for blood and stiff prison sentences that we know don’t work. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212/51 "2010-03-16T18:04:59Z")
I dunno; someone in jail isn’t driving drunk, is he? ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2010, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212/52 "2010-03-16T21:45:30Z")
> [@Cat\_Whisperer](#): > > I dunno; someone in jail isn’t driving drunk, is he? Yes. I never thought about it that way. :rolleyes: So in your perfect world would everyone who blows over .08 go to jail, or only the people unlucky enough to kill someone. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-if-you-want-to-kill-someone-and-get-a-light-sentence-get-drunk-and-use-your-car/532212.md?page=2)