HOW WE SEE IT: Man’s Sentence Challenging

Thursday, January 24, 2013

The fact we sometimes have to face in the negligent death of someone we know is this: No punishment of the off ender will ever seem satisfactory.

It is fundamentally unfair, after all, that a man who kills another person gets to keep on living and has a chance to move on while the victim doesn’t.

Those kinds of thoughts ramble around in our heads as we consider the most recent development in the tragic death of Lowell Police Chief Joe Landers. He died May 4, a week after he and his motorcycle struck a car as Landers rode with a group of bikers in Panama City, Fla. Landers was vacationing at a motorcycle rally, and the car turned in front of him., 52, of Panama City recently pleaded guilty to first-degree felony leaving an accident and driving while intoxicated with misdemeanor drug charges. He was found sitting on his car and covered in glass after the accident.

Bystanders photographed him driving away. His blood alcohol level was a disturbing 0.22, more than twice Florida’s 0.08 limit.

The Florida justice system sentenced him to 12 years in prison with five years probation. State law requires him to serve a minimum of four years, and he must serve 85 percent of his sentence, according to a state prosecutor. His driver’s license was also revoked.

So it looks like Christo will be 62 before he’s eligible for release and will have given up a big chunk of his life to prison.

Was the punishment significant enough? Landers’ replacement, Police Chief Randy Harvey, said the “light” sentence was a surprise. Christo had not struck a deal with the prosecutor, and a judge could have given him 45 years.

In some jurisdictions, including Arkansas, Christo may have faced an even lighter sentence, and that’s bad public policy. Someone getting behind the wheel and driving after consuming alcohol is a clear form of premeditation.

Drunken driving kills people (9,878 in 2011, according to MADD). In this day and age, consumers of alcohol know it before they take their fi rst sip.

Some will consider the 0.22 blood alcohol level as some sort of gauge of how atrocious this crime was. It was, but would it have made any difference to Landers or his family and friends if the driver had been only slightly drunk, say 0.10?

Drunken driving is drunken driving, and a fatal accident is no less tragic just because the driver was falling-down inebriated rather than just “buzzed.”

There are those for whom alcoholism is a disease for which they need to get help. If any are reading this, please seek aid before you’re involved in such a tragic circumstance.

Fatal crashes have also happened when a driver had “just a little” too much. That’s why it’s crucially important anyone who consumes alcohol makes clear decisions before taking that first drink - have a driver who is not drinking alcoholic beverages ready to take the wheel or plan to call a cab. No drink is worth the terrible effects of a fatal, and avoidable, wreck.

We continue to offer our thoughts and prayers to the family of Joe Landers, who served his community well. It provides some satisfaction his killer will be locked away for at least a decade.

That will no doubt save lives.

Opinion, Pages 7 on 01/24/2013