Felony charge dropped because it could affect wealth manager's job

[Troubadour]

Enforcing the law against rich offenders is "class warfare." And we can't have that, now can we?

 

[TurtleDude]

Enforcing the law against rich offenders is "class warfare." And we can't have that, now can we?

are you trying to derail the thread with this sort of nonsense?

 

[Deuce]

how much do you know about the legal systems in other countries when it comes to criminal law?

I'll try not to read too much into the fact that you didn't answer the question.

 

[danarhea]

If that is the case then the prosecutor should be investigated and charged. But that's hardly a government provided advantage to the rich as some claim. I was responding to a socialist's claim not your original post.

And I was attempting to inject a little humor into the conversation, which seems to have gotten lost on you. :mrgreen:

 

[CaptainCourtesy]

Turtle... I have a question. As an attorney, what do you think of the outcome of the situation described in the OP? Does it seem legit to you? Do you think that it was advantageous for the man charged to be wealthy? Do you think that the prosecutor did something unethical? I understand that you probably don't know all the details of the case... nor do any of us, but I'm curious as to your professional opinion.

 

[Whovian]

But if the crime carries a certian number of years in prison then some prosecutor or judge can not lower the crime.

You're still talking about a mandatory sentence, before the verdict has been rendered. You can't start a case by saying 'here's the mandatory sentence, now what level of crime are we going to charge the defendant with?' It's charges first, then trial, then if guilty, a mandatory sentence might come into play.

 

[jamesrage]

You're still talking about a mandatory sentence, before the verdict has been rendered. You can't start a case by saying 'here's the mandatory sentence, now what level of crime are we going to charge the defendant with?' It's charges first, then trial, then if guilty, a mandatory sentence might come into play.

A hit and run is still a hit a run. Did dropping it from a felony to a misdemeanor change that is what he is being charged with? With Mandatory sentencing the prosecutor couldn't metaphorically toss any rich boy salad by lowering a hit and run felony to a hit and run misdemeanor.

 

[Glinda]

A hit and run is still a hit a run. Did dropping it from a felony to a misdemeanor change that is what he is being charged with?

No. Apparently, doing so means he can't just pay his way out of it; this way, he loses his drivers license, may serve jail time, and it goes on his permanent police record.

DA explains controversial plea bargain

Despite what is implied in the Vail Daily, Dr. Milo never asked me to plea Mr. Erzinger to a felony. Dr. Milo asked that I plead Mr. Erzinger to a felony deferred judgment and sentence.

What this means is that Mr. Erzinger would plead to a felony leaving the scene of an accident, and the judgment would be set aside.

In either two or four years, as long as Mr. Erzinger met certain conditions, the case would drop off his record and he would be allowed to seal this case. Since there was no alcohol or drugs involved, the only conditions I could legally ask for were that he pay restitution and stay out of trouble.

Given that he had a clean history, Mr. Erzinger would essentially have been able to write a check, and the case would then be dismissed. On top of that, while Dr. Milo was still probably recovering from his injuries, Mr. Erzinger would be able to say that he had no criminal history and even deny that anything had happened. That is not something I could stomach.

I therefore offered that Mr. Erzinger plead guilty to leaving the scene of an accident and careless driving causing serious bodily injury.

This means that for the rest of his life, Mr. Erzinger will have on his record that he carelessly drove, caused another human being serious bodily injury and left the scene. He will lose his driver's license, face potential jail time as determined by the judge and still have to pay restitution, which as I said in the Vail Daily is important to us but not an overriding objective in the plea.

 

[TurtleDude]

And I was attempting to inject a little humor into the conversation, which seems to have gotten lost on you. :mrgreen:

collateral damage my friend

 

[TurtleDude]

Turtle... I have a question. As an attorney, what do you think of the outcome of the situation described in the OP? Does it seem legit to you? Do you think that it was advantageous for the man charged to be wealthy? Do you think that the prosecutor did something unethical? I understand that you probably don't know all the details of the case... nor do any of us, but I'm curious as to your professional opinion.

I will read up on the facts when I get home later tonight and do my best to give an opinion. As you can see I was not making specific comments about the case in question but rather the system as a whole which is --at least at the federal level--a very good system when compared to other countries. The sensational murder case in Italy involving the American college girl (and Italy has to be seen as one of the most advanced nations in the world) demonstrates how good our system is.