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Ohio teen dubbed 'hell on wheels' after killing her boyfriend and his friend in a crash is sentenced to 15 years to life (www.nbcnews.com)
submitted 2 years ago by to c/news@lemmy.world
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[–] 302 points 2 years ago (3 children)

“It’s horrible for everybody. Yeah, I lost my son, it’s harder on our family, but I don’t want the rest of her life ruined too. It isn’t going to make me feel any better,” he said.

As hard as it is to say something like that... we need more people like this.

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  • [–] 114 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    It's a nice sentiment, but..

    This was premeditated. She needs to be held accountable and have consequences for what she willfully and knowingly did.

    She literally killed people. I'm not sure this can be a case of "forgive and let her off lightly."

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  • [–] 52 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (3 children)

    I don’t think he's saying she shouldn't be accountable and face consequences. He's said he didn't want her to spend life in jail. That's going to be pretty radical for a lot of folks.

    Some people are going to think that life in prison or the death penalty should be the minimum consequence. Others are going to think that even a monster like this can repent, change and (unlike her victims) be allowed to live free eventually.

    Edit. Yikes. Important typo. “Don’t”

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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago* (2 children)

    That's fair, and I get it. To me, that's absolutely radical, especially if it was my child who was harmed.

    I personally have just learned from experience that people who get off easy are likely to continue on the path of destructive behavior.

    I'm not necessarily calling for her death or anything.. but the punishment needs to fit the crime. Two lives are permanently gone from this world because of the careless and stupid choices she made.

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  • [–] 6 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I personally have just learned from experience that people who get off easy are likely to continue on the path of destructive behavior.

    Likewise, although my experience is with a racist idiot on a Discord server who I was far too lenient with.

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  • [–] 0 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

    For me, it's not about whether or not she can change and repent. I'm all for prison reforms that make prison safe and offer inmates opportunities for growth and self-improvement while they serve their sentences, but I think punishments need to fit crimes and this girl intentionally killed two other people. I think a sentence of 15 years to life is actually a bit lenient (I'm used to 25 years to life being the standard for premeditated murder). I don't think she should mandatorily have to spend her entire life in prison, but I also don't think she should get to enjoy even fraction of the life she robbed those two boys of. Ideally, with good behavior, I'd like to see her get out at 45-50 years of age. She would still have a few decades left, but the prime of her life would be gone—no career, no kids. That seems fair to me.

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  • [–] -3 points 2 years ago* (1 child)

    And yet on the same turn, if the father was calling for the death penalty or even a lengthy prison sentence, you all would be admonishing the fact that he even got a say and stating this is why justice systems shouldn't be about satisfying the victim at all.

    The hypocrisy is really blatant and self-serving. Should people be punished for their crimes or not? If yes, then you need to support predetermined sentences for crimes that apply equally across all cases, including this one. If no, then you don't really believe in justice or government, but something much more insidious.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago (1 child)

    you all would be admonishing the fact that he even got a say and stating this is why justice systems shouldn't be about satisfying the victim at all.

    Ya know, I've never seen anyone say that about the victim in instances like the one you describe.

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  • [–] 34 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    There's a middle ground between life in prison and just a slap on the wrist

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  • [–] 18 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    I agree. 15 years is hardly "life" in prison, though. I think it's more than fair.

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  • [–] 11 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    People change. They get better. The guy who shot Reagan got better, and they let him out. Now he writes love songs and posts them on YouTube, and sells his paintings on eBay.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    15 years seems like a perfectly adequate amount of time for that.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago* (1 child)

    I agree that there should be time served, and a significant amount of it. I'm okay with 15 years. This person needs to be set aside from society while we determine if we can help them and, if we can, to do it.

    I'd like to know how we arrived at 15 years, though. Would 10 not be enough? If the court had suggested 20 I don't think either of us would have said "But surely it can be done in 15." It feels right but it looks kinda arbitrary and that's interesting to me.

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    Oh it's completely arbitrary. The only way I can think of making it non arbitrary would be a very long study to see how long was necessary for people to genuinely rehabilitate, but even then, it would be based on their own arbitrary sentences.

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  • [–] 7 points 2 years ago

    On one hand, yes.

    On the other hand, 17+15 is 32. Think of all of the things you do to get your life started between 17 and 32 and where you'd be if you'd waited to do the stuff you did at 17 until you were 32. That's a whole lot of life and life experience there.

    Such a stupid senseless waste all around.

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  • [+] -14 points 2 years ago (3 children)

    Being 17, I'd attribute some of the blame to her parents or whomever owns that vehicle.

    Is driving recklessly really the only symptom of being this emotionally deregulated? Did they not know how stupid or mentally ill she is?

    I bet the adults around her did not care or excused her behaviour.

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  • [–] 15 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    That's fine, but she still made a conscious decision to do it. If she was one year older, would that make any kind of difference?

    And let me be clear: mental illness can make some behaviors more understandable, but not murder– if the blame is put solely on mental illness, all that does is put more stigma on it. Not every shitty decision people make is because of "mental illness".

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  • [+] -8 points 2 years ago (1 child)
    [deleted]
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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    I'm not sure you know what the word "reactionary" means if you think that my comments and opinions were "reactionary".

    The family can grieve, and my opinion has no bearing on the outcome of whatever happens. My point was, in the end, no matter what the reason, there needs to be consequences for someone who killed people, regardless of what the grieving parties think. I don't think that's particularly radical.

    It's a sad and awful situation al around. I can see why those poor families just want to move on.

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  • [–] 5 points 2 years ago

    Did they not know how stupid or mentally ill she is?

    Just want to shout out here as an anxious and depressed person, the vast majority of the mentally ill are not psychopathic murderers. Mental health absolutely pays a role in decision making, but except for super extremely rare cases, it doesn't turn someone into a murderer.

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  • [–] 69 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    I witnessed this in a case. Young driver wasn't paying attention and crossed the line, struck head on and killed an elderly woman on her way to chemotherapy, no joke.

    On the recommendation and impassioned pleas of the victim's family, the defendant plead a manslaughter charge down to a $75 fine for failure to maintain lane or some such infraction. I don't remember all the facts but was struck by the forward thinking and empathy. The young driver was truly remorseful, part of the pleas were that he had suffered enough, that the memory of what he had done was punishment enough.

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  • [–] 32 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    Definitely not the same situation at all. This wasn't some distracted driver, she had literally threatened to do exactly this before.

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  • [–] 22 points 2 years ago (1 child)

    From what I can tell, they never claimed it was the same situation. They said they've seen victims asking for a reduction in punishment, that's all.

    Chill out and stop jumping on people for something they never said.

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  • [–] -5 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    Chill out and stop jumping on people for something they never said.

    All they commented was that it wasn't the same situation. That's a pretty normal thing to do when someone says "oh yeah I remember that happening in this one instance". They didn't go after the person or bite their head off or even express aggression.

    Ironically, you're the one jumping on someone for what they didn't say and perceived aggression that isn't there.

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