The most hated man in the Toronto area - you almost feel sorry for him

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

Marco Muzzo flew home from his Vegas bachelor party in a private jet, drinking on the plane. After landing, he and buddies went straight to a bar and drank some more. He then hopped in his car to drive home.

Before he made it home, he killed three children, aged 9, 5, and 2, as well as their grandfather. I can only assume he also killed whatever joy the kids’ parents might have ever had.

Here is a picture of Marco in a Ferrari (it’s one of many showing him associated with Ferrari). I don’t know if it’s his car, but according to the media, his family is worth billions (with a ‘b’) so if it isn’t, it’s not for lack of funds.

As you can imagine, readers’ comments in the local on-line ‘newspapers’ have not only called for his blood but have wondered aloud if his father’s money won’t “get him off”. Even the fact that he’s remaining in custody and hasn’t sought bail is being held up as proof of his sleaziness, i.e. since he will get 2:1 credit for any time served before conviction.

Today we learn, Muzzo intends to plead guilty to “some of the charges”. Non-Toronto Dopers probably won’t recognize that his lawyer - Brian Greenspan - is pretty much the top criminal lawyer, and probably the most expensive, around (take a peek at his list of clients on the linked Wiki page).

All of which is to say, this is a perfect storm for the creation of a villain - Ferrari-driving spoiled rich boy kills three kids, then his ‘rich man’s lawyer gets him off with a slap on the wrist’. The last bit of which, of course, has not yet happened. He’s not even been tried yet, let alone sentenced. Still, to read the online comments not only has it happened, it was predictable, and it was inevitable.

As I said, it almost makes you feel sorry for the guy.

2

Affluenza defense.

3

That is exactly the word people around here have used.

4

Now, now, let’s not engage in class warfare here…

5

Apparently it’s been “a very long and difficult ordeal” for him. :rolleyes:

6

Obviously a tragedy all around. There is however, one bright side to all this.

This happened in Canada. Can you imagine the media circus if this had happened in the US and of course all the Presidential hopefuls and their handlers and the media cheerleaders all got ahold of this one and started posturing one way or the other?

I suspect that even Canadians would rather deal with their own version of the circus than have to live next door to the din of our cocaine-and-testosterone-fueled version of the same circus.

7

I suppose it takes some doing to oust Tom Ford for the title.

8

Yeah, but that’s a Canajun ‘b’…so it really only like, what? 300 proper monies? :wink:

9

Well, you mean Rob or Doug. Probably Rob.

10

Nice turn of a phrase. Nicely done. And very likely only too true.

By the way, IMHO, it is an outrage that drunks who kill with automobiles should be treated more leniently than sober people who kill as a result of negligence (not an accident - but negligence).

11

If he wanted any sympathy, he needed to break down and cry real tears in public.

He needed to seriously cry and sob and apologize to the family and also offer some serious financial compensation to the family without being forced to do so.

If the family was too disgusted by him to accept any financial compensation, he should have arranged things so that they could name a charity and failing that, he could name a charity and give them maybe one million for each person he killed.

There was a recent story in the news about a 43 year old Jamaican flight attendant who had a wife and two kids and was convicted of smuggling about 6 pounds of cocaine into Florida. He broke down on the stand and sobbed and wept and apologized to the court. It was his first offence and his apology seemed most genuine to me. If I was the judge, I would have accepted it and perhaps I would have given him some kind of serious community service - maybe let him out during the day to work and pay his wages to the state or some Cocaine Rehab center. He didn’t do anyone any good by spending two years (I think it was 2 years) in prison.

Of course, this is all predicated on the fact that he never killed anyone. Although his cocaine could have killed many people had he been successful.

12

P.S. Even if he did do all the things I suggested above, I’m not suggesting that the drunk driver should have gotten any less than a serious amount of time in prison. Once you kill people - especially children - I can’t see any way for someone to redeem themselves without a huge lifelong effort.

13

What a terribly sad case. I believe there was just a similarly devastating drunk-driving multiple fatality in Saskatoon, too.

14

Reminds me of The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carrol.

15

Drunk driving really needs to end. How does Canada treat Dui? How serious does the Us?

16

I’m not qualified to answer this question from a judicial point of view. I don’t know how sentences in Canada compare to sentences elsewhere.

But I can tell you that as a society, it seems pretty clear that, “Drunk Driving” used to be something people joked and chuckled about. But, no longer. I guess it’s been about thirty years now (or longer) since that attitude changed and it is now considered to be a very despicable crime.

I’ve heard it said many, many times in Canada that, “Friends do not let friends drive drunk”. That seems to be the prevailing attitude here now.

17

Yes. Family of four went out late at night to see the Northern Lights.

Coming home, they got t-boned.
Mom and Dad died at the scene.
Five year old daughter and two year old son died in hospital.

Driver of the other car is facing four charges of impaired driving causing death.

18

Federal criminal offences:

Two basic offences: driving with a BAC over .08, and driving while impaired.

Similar offences when there are injuries or death, but carrying higher penalties.

It’s an offence to refuse to give a breath sample. Penalties are the same as driving while impaired / .08, so no incentive to refuse to blow.

Provinces also have taken measures, such as pulling licences.

There’s been an interesting development in the province of British Columbia. They’ve moved away from criminal prosecutions for first offences and concentrate their efforts on administrative penalties, education of impaired drivers, more spot checks, and so on.

Since they began taking this softer approach, fatalities from impaired driving are down 30%.

Appears to demonstrate that cranking up criminal penalties may not be the most effective way to reduce impaired driving.

19

Wiki has a good article on impaired driving in Canada:

20

I agree that in early stages, a softer approach may be more useful. By the time one gets to the third offense, I’m all for a lengthy jail term. Some people just won’t learn.

And killing people due to one’s active negligence deserves a lengthy jail term, period.