Wrong-way driver not guilty of attempted capital murder

VA Teacher Man Im glad your not my kids teacher . Your a real role model for the kids you teach . If you cant beaten "Shoot Em"

Sorry, folks! This was a bullsheet charge from minute 1.

Judge Higgins did her job, and she did it well.

I don't like this guu, but Hogberg is in enough trouble without having false charges fabricated and filed against him.

Crozets best!

VA Teacher, didn't the State Trooper put himself in harms way when he "played chicken" with the perp??? I certainly wouldn't stand in front of you and your 45 just to see if you'd back down even if I was holding my own 45.

@Rigby
No intent to harm? I guess when I load up my .45 with hollow points, I don't think I would claim the same thing. This guy knowingly loaded himself up with alcohol, got into a machine with much more killing power than my pistol, and set off with no regard to whoever gets in his way. Maybe it was stretching to try to interpret his actions as meeting the statute, as it is written, for attempted murder. In my mind, and in many others, it certainly falls into the intent of the law for attempted homocide when an individual habitually drinks and drives.

VA Teacher, with logical skills like your it's no wonder our schools are so bad.

OK, depending on the force used, the city or county does not have to pay any of the punitive damages because actions amount to gross negligence and immunity extends only to simple negligence. I agree.

The point I made above was what would have happened if the jury had awarded punitive damages against the cop(s) that shot and killed Mr. Gray. I don't think Albemarle County would have picked up the tab. The cop(s) would have been working for a very long time just to pay the punitive damages (and interest) if they had been awarded by the jury.

OK, explain this to me then...

http://www.laverylaw.com/articles/TortClaims/pdfs/Punitive%20Damages%20A...

OK. I am a cop on duty. I go out here and smack a guy in the head with my baton for littering after he refuses to pick up his litter. He suffers from back and neck pain, constant headaches. He alleges police brutality and sues me for two million dollars. The jury returns a verdict of $750,000 in compensatory damages, and $450,000 in punitive damages.

Considering the fact I did indeed use unnecessary and willful/unlawful force, the city/county I am working for does not have to pay the punitive damages, right? The cap on punitive damages in Virginia is $350,000, right? So I assume the judge would reduce the punitive damages award to said $350,000.

No, he shouldn't have. :)

Esquire, here's another case where I suspect punitive damages WILL be handed down when the civil lawsuits are filed. The jury will want to send the message that cops should know better.

-------------------------

Christine L. Miller, a Sunset Hills, MO police officer charged with manslaughter in an off-duty car crash that killed four people last year, pleaded guilty in court today.

Authorities say Miller, 42, had nearly three times the legal limit of alcohol in her blood when she caused the collision March 21, 2009, at Dougherty Ferry Road at Des Peres Road in Des Peres.

Prosecutor Alan Key said Miller had a receipt for five cosmopolitans in her purse, which would have had 2 1/2 shots of alcohol each. A blood sample taken 45 minutes after the crash showed her blood alcohol content at .229. Three hours later, she tested at 0.169, still more than twice the legal limit of 0.08.

She was charged with four counts of first-degree involuntary manslaughter and one count of second-degree assault. Anusha Anumolu, 23, Anita Lakshmi Veerapaneni, 23, and Priya Muppavarapu, 22, all of Charleston, Ill., and Satya Subhakar Chinta, 25, of Aurora, Ill., were killed. The driver of their car, Nitesh Adusumilli, 27, of Ballwin, was severely injured.

Miller's attorney, Scott Rosenblum, said his client was herself near death after the crash. She still has "significant neurological issues" and no memory of the crash, he said.

Miller's "blind plea" means no deal was made with prosecutors. Miller is essentially throwing herself on the mercy of the court, taking whatever sentence is handed down. Her lawyer called it the "best route to go" in the case.

Sentencing was set for March 10. She could see no jail time at all or up to 67 years in prison.

"I want prison time, obviously," Key told reporters after the hearing. "I'd like to see double digits."

I know a male school teacher in Kentucky who is totally consumed with pornography and weapons. The school system would probably terminate him if they were to see the things I watch him post on the Internet on a daily basis. (Would not surprise me to see him arrested some day for wild adventures involving undergae female students). Now we have a VaTeacher who seems to be a gun nut too, talking about his/her .45 with hollow points? And we have all these female teachers seducing 13 to 17 year old kids in our school systems every day.

And yet these are the same teachers who object to "drunk driving" and an overcharge being tossed out of court by a competent judge?

Wow! What's this world coming to?

Whoa! Wait a minute! What sites? The teacher I am speaking of in Kentucky posts all his foolishness on a car forum I read occasionally. His fascination with weapons, scantily clad females (and worse), etc...

I don't do porn sites. :)

I think Ottawa Hills, Ohio police officer Thomas White would disagree with you. He just received 10 years in jail for shooting a man in the back during a traffic stop. He testified that he thought the man was pulling a gun and he was in fear for his life. It seems like the jury mush have seen some gross negligence even though the cop testified he feared for his life?

We'll see what type of damages are awarded when the lawsuit is filed and heard. I suspect punitive damages will be handed down even though the cop claims he was in fear for his life.

In the meantime, never underestimate what a jury in Charlottesville or Albemarle County will do. Hardly anybody saw the $4 million wrongful death award coming down the pike not long ago. People were also surprised when a jury handed down a 2 year sentence for murder.

If a cop can file bankruptcy after having a large punitive damage award (and interest until paid) handed down against him/her, isn't their life (and family) still pretty much derailed for a very long time because of it?

It's not something I would want to risk just because I simply shot and killed somebody coming at me with a baseball bat. I would want to be able to argue that I shot and killed the person as a last resort only. I'm old school when it comes to killing somebody. It was the last thing I ever wanted to do unless I absolutely had to. I'll let Jake (above) kill 'em all and the Commonwealth Attorney clean up his mess.

Esquire, I don't know if anyone has tried silver bullets or holy water against GSOE, but logic and knowledge have been proven to be ineffective so far....

Agreed. Hitting somebody with a baseball bat is a far cry from attempted murder, and should be reduced to a lesser charge at least.

If I walk up and hit two people (a civilian and a cop) with a baseball bat, it's a misdemeanor for hitting the civilian and a felony for hitting the cop. Cute, huh? Civilians are obviously a lower life form in the eyes of the law. :)

Would the magistrate write an attempted murder warrant for hitting a cop with a baseball bat? Some of these "get tough on crime" magistrates might. They're getting worse than the rookies sitting around dreaming up 45 charges they can place arising from one incident.

Man gets drunk. Man charges at police officer with baseball bat. Later says, "Sorry I tried to kill you." Charged with attempted capital murder.

That should be "tossed out of court," too.

This is a problem in our country. People don't want to equate vehicles to what they really are: potential weapons.

Wow! Touched a nerve with that one! @idontknowanythingjustaskmywife & others, if I intended to kill someone I would load a pistol. I don't claim to ever have wanted to do that. Did I say I did?
BTW, the pistol was sold more than a decade ago.
It was a poor attempt at an analogy. Any bullet loaded into a pistol, and hollow points in particular, are meant to kill = bonehead drinking himself blind drunk and getting behind the wheel on multiple occasions also has intent to kill. Judge Higgins was right, It doesn't fit the attempted murder statute and was a stretch to try to make it so. I hope that sentencing on the guilty pleas reflects the reality of his intent when he opened the bottle.
Let me try this again. I don't see the difference in intent. If SOMEONE loads a pistol or loads THEMSELVES up with booze, THEY still know that the end result is the same if THEY pull the trigger or start the car.
As to the State Trooper playing chicken, I know 3 children who were hit by drunk drivers. I wasn't there and I don't know the trooper, but I understand the desire to stop someone who could wreak the same damage.
Two of the kids died. One of those deceased was my cousin and was holding her older sister's hand when she was run down and left along side the road. Her sister was holding her as she died. The drunk driver went home and fell asleep in his driveway, too drunk to know he took a life. The other deceased was a baby in a carrier who was run down in her own front yard. The drunk drove through an intersection, across the yard, over the girl and pinned the mother under his car, breaking both her legs. She was gardening at the time. The surviving one has permanent brain damage after being sideswiped. Each one of the families never ever recovered.

Give it up, Toadstool!

strike the evidence = tossed out of court.

And probable cause is pretty much a joke nowadays. You can get a magistrate to write a warrant for anybody, for anything. The magistrate should have "struck the evidence" before writing the warrant. :)

Now we're getting somewhere. At least I now have a baseball bat assault down to malicious wounding from attempted murder.

No. I do not watch COPS on TV. Now I know where some of you are getting these silly ideas from though! 50% of what is shown on COPS should never have been broadcast on national TV in the first place, especially the repeated and numerous illegal searches every week. I would be willing to bet a lot of the arrests on COPS TV are probably thrown out of court based on the illegal searches.

Jake, feel free to handle a baseball bat assault on yourself in whatever manner you want. I thought the taser was the most current way to prevent using deadly force when it's not really warranted? (chuckles)

If I was still active duty, I would use a baton first. If that failed to produce acceptable results I would then resort to the taser. And pulling a firearm and shooting a person dead is going to be my last resort. Just like the Gray case in Albemarle County a few years ago.... the baton didn't work, they had no taser, they shot and killed him. While the officer never faced any criminal charges of any type, there was a civil award for wrongful death of $4 million dollars. Just imagine if only $250,000 of that $4 million was awarded in punitive damages and the cop had had to pay it out of his own pocket! (a city or county does not have to pay punitive damages if they elect not to)

We can argue this for a week, you do what you feel comfortable with, and some of us will try alternate routes to disable a combative assailant with a baseball bat.

Now, as far as the news clip from Chicago, what's the answer? Well, there is no simple answer. Crime is on the rise. People will continue to get robbed, raped and assaulted. It's a fact of life. The police can not protect you. The courts have ruled the police have no obligation to protect you, and they have no civil liability if you do become a victim of crime. I'm still not going to shoot somebody with abaseball bat... unless it proves to be my last resort in defending myself.

Gasbag Self Ordained Expert I wasnt speaking of cops. If you watched something more tha the FAUX NEWS Network you would get it .

Depending on the force used, the city or county does not have to pay any of it because your actions amount to gross negligence and your immunity extends only to simple.