Cape man sentenced for 8th DUI
Got that? He's serving time for his ninth offense and finally got sentenced for his eighth offense. There's just so much wrong with that sentence I barely know where to start. First off, NINTH offense? Doesn't there come a point somewhere around the fifth offense where the person needs to be taken out of society for the greater good? (That's where the title comes from - at one point during some discussion of repeat OUI offenders I jokingly proposed that we break the legs of anyone caught on a fourth offense or higher...)FALMOUTH — A Sandwich man already serving time in state prison on his ninth drunken driving charge was sentenced Monday to a concurrent jail stint stemming from a 2007 charge for the same offense.
John Bazilio, 53, was sentenced in Falmouth District Court to 2½ years in a correctional facility for his eighth drunken driving offense, in July 2007.
In MA, your third offense is a felony with a punishment of up to five years in jail and loss of license for up to 8 years. You lose your license indefinitely after the fifth offense. He's on his NINTH offense - the list stops giving punishments after five. At the very least, he's lost his license for the rest of his life and has been eligible for up to five years in jail for every offense since his third - theoretically up to 35 years if all were served consecutively.
But they're not - he's being credited for serving his eighth sentence while serving his ninth. We can't stop him from driving by taking away his license; we can't keep him in jail; we are basically giving this scumbag a free pass until he kills someone. That's what it's going to take to get him put away for any meaningful time - someone's going to have to die to get this danger off our streets.
And yet, if I were to drive to NH and buy a new 13-round magazine for my Hi-Power, I'd be a felon with a possible jail time of five years. That's what passes for sense in MA: it's the same sentence for repeatedly putting the lives of every citizen on the road at risk as it is for owning a chunk of metal and plastic manufactured after some arbitrary date. In what Kafkaesque world does this make any sense to any thinking person?
MA: because dangerous criminals deserve seventh and eighth chances, but gun owners don't.
That is all.
8 comments:
I'm so terribly sorry, but I could not read this entire story. First, I read "A Sandwich man" and immediately pictured a sandwich-man. Like, a dude in a sandwich costume standing outside a Subway restaurant or something.
Then, in a double-take, I read where the story originated: FALMOUTH. I can only imagine that is the home of JayG. Oh, wait, it only sounds like "foulmouth".
;)
tweaker
Clearly, we need to outlaw cars.
Or maybe alcohol.
Unless you're a Kennedy.
:)
Jay, The difference is this: The repeat-offender drunk only threatens other citizens and himself through his actions. The 13-round magazine is emblematic of the threat to the power structure. One endangers mere life. The other endangers POWER, and the jobs of the powerful.
The second is the only thing that is sacred to a politician.
"Doesn't there come a point somewhere around the fifth offense where the person needs to be taken out of society for the greater good?"
In the state of Texas, a third (and subsequent) DWI offenses are considered felonies.
Texas also has a habitual offender law.
I'm aware of at least one case where a man with 12 DWI convictions was sentenced to life in prison, though I can't find the story online now. I did find mentions of other cases involving 10 DWI convictions and a 60 year sentence (though that person will be eligible for parole in 15 years) and a 25 year sentence for a fourth DWI (with some additional non-DWI felony convictions for spice).
Unfourtunately, a repeat offender law does nothing if it isn't enforced.
We have a case in Anchorage of a nine-time convicted DUI just initiated a three-car chain collision. No license, no insurance, just Mr Drunk behind the wheel yet again.
Another case, a multiple repeat offender is being tried on murder charges following a cross-the-line head on that killed someone.
Hunter
Alaska
Of course you and Mr. John Bazilio have something in common. You both pay taxes to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to have the laws enforced. Hopefully you will find a way to correct this situation.
FLEE MASSACHUSETTS!
You missed the Falmouth part?
I can say the following as I am a "lifer" here: This state is a stinking corpse of corruption.
With enough cash, you can skate on anything from jay-walking to murder.
Search how many "mandatory" one-year-in-jail sentences for carrying unlicensed were handed out to which class of people. Nobody who could buy their way out, that's for certain. I read somewhere you could count that number on one hand.
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