Don't forget, Ed, this is a state where the O.J.'s of the world go
free...........Somehow, after reading the article, my only comment (which, I
guess, is a sad commentary on "Justice" in California) was "so.....what else is
new?".
Steve Weinstein
S/V HYDRO-THERAPY
1981 Cherubini Hunter 33
Sailing out of Oyster Bay, NY
All outgoing mail protected by Norton A/V
----- Original Message -----
From: Ed Kelly
To: [email protected]
Sent: Saturday, June 14, 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
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