# The Bishop is a drunkard. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 29, 2014, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457 "2014-12-29T18:59:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2015, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/121 "2015-05-27T23:53:06Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > You have a pretty consistent habit of judging everything that happens in the real world as if it were happening within a courtroom. Um… you do understand that we’re discussing a report about the results of what happened in a courtroom, don’t you? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/122 "2015-05-28T03:02:32Z")
Um … you do understand that we’re talking about a newspaper story, and it is not constrained in its language to a sterile recitation of what the court decided? ---
**Author:** ![Personal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Personal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Personal)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/123 "2015-05-28T03:35:38Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Um … you do understand that we’re talking about a newspaper story, and it is not constrained in its language to a sterile recitation of what the court decided? You forgot the “, don’t you?" ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/124 "2015-05-28T04:09:26Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > The problem with that sentence is that it’s unclear whether the crime was killing the pedestrian, and then leaving, or leaving the scene period. No it isn’t. The sentence and the meaning it conveys are not unclear. ---
**Author:** ![Peremensoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/125 "2015-05-28T20:39:11Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > …But the short answer is that even “negligent homicide,” 13-1102, requires that the death occur as a result of _criminal negligence_. > > This is very different from ordinary, or “civil” negligence. Ordinary negligence can simply be inadvertence or heedlessness. But criminal negligence can only arise from conduct that the actor knows has a high degree of likelihood, a substantial risk, to cause the outcome in play. And this, in a nutshell, is the problem with our system’s treatment of killer drivers–that “simpl[e]…heedlessness” _while driving on public roads_ is not automatically considered criminal negligence. That people are licensed to drive, and allowed to continue driving, without understanding that not paying attention to where you point your moving car _is_ creating a substantial risk to people around you. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/126 "2015-05-28T23:05:16Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Um … you do understand that we’re talking about a newspaper story, and it is not constrained in its language to a sterile recitation of what the court decided? Are you saying you want the newspaper to slant the story?? ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/127 "2015-05-28T23:07:00Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > No it isn’t. The sentence and the meaning it conveys are not unclear. I disagree. I contend if twenty people, unfamiliar with the case or with the specifics of hit and run law, were given **Boyo** ’s version, at least five would reach a different conclusion. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2015, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/128 "2015-05-28T23:51:10Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > Are you saying you want the newspaper to slant the story?? No, I believe they already slanted the story by using obfuscating language that minimized the degree of responsibility the bishop had for the death. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/129 "2015-05-29T01:13:13Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > No, I believe they already slanted the story by using obfuscating language that minimized the degree of responsibility the bishop had for the death. I agree. But I contend your proposed language is guilty of the opposite flaw – by not making clear that the criminal act was the leaving, and not the death, your draft slants the story towards overstating the degree of criminal responsibility the bishop had. ---
**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:** [May 29, 2015, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/130 "2015-05-29T03:11:48Z")
> [@Bricker](#): > > I agree. > > But I contend your proposed language is guilty of the opposite flaw – by not making clear that the criminal act was the leaving, and not the death, your draft slants the story towards overstating the degree of criminal responsibility the bishop had. I don’t see it. The “in which” sets off the rest of the sentence. Yes, technically it needs a comma before it to make it an nonessential clause, but we’re already predisposed to hear “which” as as nonessential. If 1/4 people would have trouble understanding it, I’m not sure what would be better and still convey all the same information, other than adding the aforementioned comma. I mean, I had trouble at first figuring out what your objection was, as it seemed so obvious that the fleeing the scene of the accident was the issue. If not, I’d expect something like “He was convicted of hitting a killing a pedestrian and leaving the scene of an accident.” You’d set them at equal level, not downplaying the bigger crime. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2015, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/131 "2015-05-29T10:37:15Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > I don’t see it. The “in which” sets off the rest of the sentence. Yes, technically it needs a comma before it to make it an nonessential clause, but we’re already predisposed to hear “which” as as nonessential. > > If 1/4 people would have trouble understanding it, I’m not sure what would be better and still convey all the same information, other than adding the aforementioned comma. > > I mean, I had trouble at first figuring out what your objection was, as it seemed so obvious that the fleeing the scene of the accident was the issue. If not, I’d expect something like “He was convicted of hitting a killing a pedestrian and leaving the scene of an accident.” You’d set them at equal level, not downplaying the bigger crime. How about, “He was convicted of leaving the scene of the accident, one in which he had hit and killed a pedestrian.” That adds the comma, and a single word, but much more clearly sets off the ‘leaving’ as the criminal act. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [September 12, 2015, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/132 "2015-09-12T04:35:20Z")
Bump. [Plea deal.](http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/09/08/ex-bishop-who-killed-cyclist-pleads-guilty-to-manslaughter/#.Ve9G1keSge8.twitter) The ex-Bishop pled guilty to manslaughter. Sentenced to 10 years. ---
**Author:** ![dasmoocher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/dbc845/32.png) [@dasmoocher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dasmoocher)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/133 "2015-10-27T21:23:18Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Bump. > > [Plea deal.](http://washington.cbslocal.com/2015/09/08/ex-bishop-who-killed-cyclist-pleads-guilty-to-manslaughter/#.Ve9G1keSge8.twitter) The ex-Bishop pled guilty to manslaughter. Sentenced to 10 years. Saw this today: [Bishop Who Killed Cyclist While Driving Drunk Gets 7 Years](http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/bishop-killed-cyclist-driving-drunk-years-34774039) > [@](#): > > An Episcopal bishop who killed a bicyclist in Baltimore while driving drunk has been sentenced to seven years in prison. > > Heather Cook, a bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Maryland, pleaded guilty last month to manslaughter, drunken driving and leaving the scene. She fatally struck 41-year-old cyclist Tom Palermo on Dec. 27. The impact threw Palermo onto Cook’s hood and into the windshield of her car. He died of severe blunt force trauma to the head, leaving behind a wife and two young children. > > Prosecutors say Cook left the scene for 30 minutes before returning. She was texting when the accident occurred, and her blood-alcohol level was 0.22 percent. > > A judge sentenced Cook on Tuesday to 20 years with all but seven suspended. Prosecutors had asked for a 10-year prison term. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2015, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/134 "2015-10-27T21:34:52Z")
I guess she got some time off for God behavior. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/135 "2015-10-28T03:17:25Z")
Seven years seems a bit light. A man died and she had priors. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2015, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457/136 "2015-10-28T10:17:20Z")
Thanks for bumping this thread. I’d completely missed the news story. Once upon a time the Roman and Anglican churches split on delicate theological matters like whether Catherine of Aragon was still a virgin on her SECOND wedding night. Now it seems the main choice between the two churches is whether you want to be led by child molesters or hit-and-run drunks. Is this why Mike Huckafart never made the big time? He’s just a Baptist; maybe he needs to molest a boy _and_ kill someone to make Bishop. This will be my go-to factoid next time some right-wing idiot denigrates the Islamic faith. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-bishop-is-a-drunkard/708457.md?page=6)