Is there a question that a jury will not find him innocent ? Will the guilt of the officer not come out in the trial? Who is driving the case, the insurance company? Is the court docket so deep that it takes two years to come to trial? That, in itself, seems reproachable.
-----Original Message----- From: Ed Kelly <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: [email protected] Sent: Sat, 14 Jun 2008 11:47 am Subject: [Liveaboard] Manslaughter Charges from Drunken Sailing - FYI 2 yrs ago in April, on a California lake, a Deputy Sheriff drove a powerboat at 45 mph in the dark, despite knowing many small sail boats and dinghys sometimes did not have lights on marking them, claiming he was doing surveilance work; he said he'd had done it before, and was safe because he could see other boats outlines against the shore after dark so as to avoid them. This night he slammed into a sailboat drifting in no wind with 3 folks on it. The deputy claimed the sailboat did not have its lights on but at least one other person in law enforcement disputed that. A middle aged woman was killed in the collision when they were hit by the speed boat. Neither the owner or the other man on boat were killed. The person at the wheel of the speedboat had been drinking earlier that afternoon and had a blood alcohol level of .120 - which is over the legal limit. So they have charged the man on the sailboat with Manslaughter as he was legally intoxicated and a death resulted. Such laws are intended to send a message that its dangerous to drink and drive. Today's copy of the Lectronic Latitude from California (published by the magazine Latitude 38 on the web) editorialized on the case. They don't apparently think much of it. I though you might find it interesting despite the extreme language used by the web published journal: Government and Courts in California June 12, 2008 – Lake County, California "Just because a deputy sheriff negligently slams into a stationary boat at 45 mph killing a woman doesn't mean he should be charged with any crime," the California Attorney General and his office seem to be arguing by their silence. © 2008 Latitude 38 Publishing Co., Inc. In just the next chapter in the book on complete crap justice in California, on Wednesday Judge Richard Martin ruled there was enough evidence for 39-year-old Bismarck Dinius of Sacramento to stand trial on charges of vehicular manslaughter in the April 29, 2006, boating accident on Clear Lake that resulted in the death of Lynn Thornton. In a world where there was even a smidgen of justice, Judge Martin would have stopped the four-day hearing during the first 10 minutes to excoriate the Lake County District Attorney for charging the wrong man with the crime. For as the outrage now stands, Deputy Sheriff Russell Perdock, who on that dark night slammed his high-powered speedboat into the quarter of the sailboat that Thornton was on at an admitted 40 to 45 mph — and perhaps as fast as 60 mph — hasn't been charged with anything! Even a moron in robes would have recognized that Thornton would not have been killed, let alone injured, had Perdock not been violating the most basic rules of the road. Even a moron in robes would have recognized that Thornton would not have been killed, let alone injured, had Perdock followed even the most basic notion of common sense. We ask all of you to put yourselves, as ordinary citizens, in Perdock's blood-soaked boat shoes. If you'd been operating your boat at 40 to 45 mph on a pitch black lake at night, knowing full well that there were often boats and rafts on the lake after dark, and slammed into a stationary boat, killing a woman, do you think the District Attorney would have patted you on the back and said, "Don't worry about it, you didn't do anything wrong"? Or do you think he would have kicked your ass in jail and thrown away the key? And if that was the case for you, do you think it was or should be any different if the negligent boat operator was a colleague of the D.A.'s in law enforcement? The prosecution's case rests on two main contentions. First, that the running lights of the sailboat in question, Beats Workin' II, were not on. Although the District Attorney apparently didn't want to hear it, at least two witnesses, including a former law enforcement officer, have testified that the sailboat's running lights were on prior to the collision. Second, that Bismarck, who happened to be at the helm as opposed to the owner of the boat, who was a few feet away, had a blood level of .12, which is over the legal limit. It's true that Bismarck should not have been over the limit — a few years back, mind you, he would have been under it — but what's much more important is that even a stone cold sober Russell Coutts couldn't have driven the near motionless sailboat out of the path of Perdock's powerboat roaring at them out of the blackness. Bismarck Dinius is slated to stand trial this fall . . . unless, against all odds, someone in this entirely corrupt process decides that their vow to stand for truth and justice really means something. That somebody should be former California Governor Jerry Brown, who is currently the Attorney General of the State of California. So what's it going to be Jerry — are you going to just sit there and collect yet another state paycheck, or do you still really give a shit about justice? And please give your answer in a loud and clear voice, because we all want to hear your response. (If you'd like to donate to Dinius' defense fund, send checks made out to Bismarck Dinius, writing “Bismarck Dinius Defense Fund” in the memo section, to Sierra Central Credit Union, Attn: Brian Foxworthy, Branch Manager, 306 N. Sunrise Ave., Roseville, CA 95661. You can also email your opinion on this case to the Public Investigations Unit of Mr. Brown's office.) Ed Kelly (& Sue Kelly) USSV Angel Louise - a Catalac catamaran Our Skype Phone (202) 657-6357 Email: EdKelly ("at" symbol) netins.net = _______________________________________________ iveaboard mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] o adjust your membership settings over the web http://www.liveaboardnow.org/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard o subscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] he archives are at http://www.liveaboardnow.org/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
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