you talk about a whiney song, how would you like a drunk driver to hit you and run a damoge you only meens of getting to work and i have to have my car for work. put yourself in my shoes. you probably got lucky with parents that have money to buy you cars everytime you want one.

whats wrong with the court systenm today. i also was involved in an ancedent with a drunk driver on5/1/08 . he does not have any insurance. he was charged with dui, leaving a scene of an accident, and reckless endagerment and i cant get him to pay a dime to repair my car. since then he has been arrested again for public intoxication. and i cant even get the arresting officer to show up to court so it will probably be thrown out on 9/4 when where go back to court. so yeah i feel for the victim. the courts should do something to help the victems in cases like this. i think these drunk drivers should be punished to the max instead getting a slap on the wrist.

Yes, I agree that the media doesn’t always present the entire picture and it does sound like this young man may have everything in the world going for him and maybe he just made a near deadly mistake.  Keep in mind that the people killed by drunk drivers also have lives and respectable jobs and plans for college and marriage and families.  The article did not state the outcome for the young man, just that he got a break.  His break was that he didn’t kill the officer.  I would not wish a 20 year sentence on this young man, however along with whatever he did get, he should receive some serious counseling and be required community service with MADD, or a similar organization to get a close look at the faces of the many innocent lives taken by those driving under the influence, including my 18 year old who was also an upstanding respectable young man with his whole life ahead.  My son got no second chance though.

I think that it’s easy to cast blame on people based solely on what the media says. However the media misconstrues facts and puts their own spin on everything. I think the judge did more for this young man than prison would. Our country incarcerates more people that ANY country in the world! That goes to show you that jail doesn’t work the way we are using it, it’s supposed to be for rehabilitation. This judge, made it possible for this young man to learn from his mistakes and he is paying for what he did. He doesn’t have to be crucified for it. 20 years of this young man’s life, while drinking and driving is against the law, cold blooded murderers and rapists get less than that. I applaud the judge for making a fair decision. He is doing what our judicial system was meant to do.  For all the people who criticizes him,his familyand the judge I encourage you to look at your own lives and your own families and see if you never broke any law and if you deserve a 20 year sentence

I have recently lost my eighteen year old son to an 83 year old drunk driver.  Evidently the judge has never experienced the heart wrenching pain left in the aftermath of an accident involving injuries or the death of a child, or mother, or father, or sister, or brother, etc… due to the decision of an individual to drink and get behind the wheel of a car. 
Young and old rely on the effects of alcohol to “Have fun” or to numb emotions.  Maybe the judge felt empathy because he, like so many others, has driven intoxicated himself.  It does seem as though the justice system often works in favor of the criminal.
My heart does go out to the family.  Hopefully, this case will be well publicized so that he stands no chance of re-election.