Why Isn't This A Life Sentence?

[ToraToraTora]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-tayside-central-62562341
...damn savage will be out in 2½ years? Should be murder, yes TROBers I know the difference between murder and manslaughter but if you do this and kill someone in my opinion it should be treated as murder.

[barry1010]

Then you clearly don't understand the difference between murder and manslaughter

[ToraToraTora]

you clearly don;t understand English.

[ToraToraTora]

All I'm saying is that even without intending to kill someone, if you do something so reckless and end up killing someone then in my opinion it should be treated as murder.

[douglas9401]

Well, you know what they say about opinions dear.

[Canary42]

Totally inadequate sentence - should be minimum 20 years, and driving ban for life (i.e. until he dies, not some legal compromise).

[andy-hughes]

TTT - // All I'm saying is that even without intending to kill someone, if you do something so reckless and end up killing someone then in my opinion it should be treated as murder. //

That's fine, but the law differentiates, as it should.

Killing someone intentionally and killing someone accidentally are not the same thing.

I suggest that your view is coloured by your completely understandable feeling of outrage, but fortunately, the law is dispassionate, as it has to be.

[naomi24]

A strange notion of justice. How cheap was that young life?

[barry1010]

If this had happened after June this year the maximum sentence would have been life imprisonment. As it happened in 2020 the maximum sentence is 14 years with a discount for his guilty plea.
I agree he should have been sentenced to the maximum prison that the law allows.

[andy-hughes]

Naomi - How do you value a life?
I am eternally grateful not to be involved in the task of determining appropriate sentences.

[naomi24]

I’d give it a go.

[ladybirder]

Jesus H Christ! 80mph in a 30mph zone. Should never see the light of day again.

[ToraToraTora]

exactly my point LB.

[tiggerblue10]

He should be banned for driving for life imo. If he was doing just over 30mph then I could understand the sentence and ban but 80!? He obviously didn't care what the hell he was going.

[Paigntonian]

My God. People have been whinging on about this for 50 years. Try reading a book, make notes when you watch television if you want. The argument is so boring, so repetitive so often discussed on this site that I wonder if you may, sadly, be in onset dementia. We all know the answer to your question. Sadly, you appear not to so do. Yawn.

[davebro]

Scotland " Causing death by dangerous driving may result in a much longer disqualification, and a sentence of up to 14 years in prison."

I hope this case gets reviewed and a more appropriate sentence given.

[naomi24]

Perhaps they haven’t whinged enough, paigntonian. If it was your son under the wheels of this maniac’s car, would you satisfy yourself with reading a book? Doubt it.

[Paigntonian]

Naomi: Foolish to talk about my children. You know nothing about them. Or do you know one of them may have died?

[Old_Geezer]

Sometimes something can be so reckless the assumption should be that they intended to cause death or serious injury. I'm sure gaol is no fun, but 5 years still seems rather lenient.

[naomi24]

I don’t claim to know anything about your children, but I’d hazard a guess that no loving father whose son had ended up under the wheels of that madman’s car would content himself with a book. How thoughtless.

[sp1814]

Try looking at it the other way around.

If Sarah Everard’s murderer got the same sentence for her murder as someone who accidentally killed somebody, wouldn’t that seem unfair?

Yes - the outcome may be the same but there needs to be a difference applied to intent.