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Ron
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0 posted 2002-03-08 11:46 PM


If someone posted a fictional account of this real-life story, I strongly suspect I would delete it. I know I wouldn't believe it, because the story is beyond belief.

The link below is to a story on Fox News. Maybe I'm over-reacting, but I have to add a disclaimer to this and hope you will trust me enough to know I'm serious - this story, though posted on a legitimate news site, should NOT be read if you are uncomfortable with horror. Because that's what it is. It shows, I think, that cruelty isn't necessarily the most horrific thing in this world, because this story isn't really about cruelty. It's about what happens when cowardice is greater than compassion. It's about selfishness taken to an extreme I would not have believed possible. And, somehow, that makes it so much worse than cruelty.

I read this story almost 24 hours ago, and decided almost immediately to simply try to forget it. I was not going to share it with you, because I felt sharing it served no purpose beyond sensationalism.

Obviously, I changed my mind. I changed my mind because, over the past few days, I have repeatedly seen really good people in these forums expressing serious anger over things that just aren't all that important. I've seen people not just get angry, but purposely try to incite others to anger. Over nothing. Someone seemed insincere. Someone told them the grass was blue. Someone was arrogant. Disagreements are both inevitable and, believe it or not, good. They are just as much a part of communication as are agreements. It's okay to disagree. But why do people have to get mad? Six months from now, how much will the insincerity, the wrong-headedness, the arrogance really matter to you?

Forget the little things. Ignore them. Walk away. If you want to get angry, there are horrors in this world that really merit your anger. This, I think, is one of them.

http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,47361,00.html



© Copyright 2002 Ron Carnell - All Rights Reserved
Skyfire
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1 posted 2002-03-08 11:53 PM


I am in the deepest shock... Woah. Thank you for bringing this to my attention Ron... I think it's time I went and did a little soul-searching.

Just don't fall in love with me and no one will get hurt

Jeffrey E. Osborne
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2 posted 2002-03-09 12:06 PM


     I originally learned of this story while listening to a morning talk radio show. I thought it was too outrageous and cruel to be real and suspected that the two hosts made it up in an effort to shock their listeners. It was to my extreme shock and horror that I found the news article relating the incident in my local paper. I simply cannot fathom what kind of depraved soul would bring such harm to another individual.
    Ron, you are so right to remind us that we all too often make mountains out of mole hills and lose sight of what is really important in our lives. Thank you for your timely message.
    

SEA
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3 posted 2002-03-09 12:18 PM


I knew before I clicked on it, that this was the story you were linking to....my husband told me about it, and it was so horrible, I almost didn't believe him...till I saw it on the news, and cried....that kind of cruelty I can never ever comprehend....it hurt the deepest part of my soul....yes folks don't sweat the small stuff....worry about the big ones...
Nan
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4 posted 2002-03-09 12:35 PM


Dear God.. We have to find a way to make a POSITIVE difference in today's world...
rosepetals25
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5 posted 2002-03-09 12:39 PM


I heard about this on the radio this morning.  It's unbelievable.  It really makes you wonder what is happening to the world.  I don't even know what to say, it's just.. so shocking that someone could be so cold hearted and uncaring about another human life
Tara

[This message has been edited by rosepetals25 (03-09-2002 01:41 AM).]

vlraynes
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6 posted 2002-03-09 12:47 PM



I heard about this yesterday too, and it
just seemed, and still seems so unbelievable.
The first thing that crossed my mind, after
hearing of this, was that it reminded me of
a scene from Stephen King's 'Misery'...only
much, MUCH worse, because THIS is real!

"...until you have read the verse on his heart,
you have not truly met the poet.
~vlraynes

Poet deVine
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7 posted 2002-03-09 03:56 AM


I've read this article in several of the online news sites trying to comprehend how someone could be this heartless. I tried to justify her actions trying to find some explanation. But I don't think there is any explanation for this kind of cold cruelty. She may have been drinking and on drugs at the time, but what about the days after? The time from the accident in October until she 'got caught'? No one would have known if someone hadn't 'tipped' the police.

I feel a great deal of sadness for this woman. To live such a cold, uncaring life must leave no room for joy.


hush
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8 posted 2002-03-09 12:43 PM


This story is really disheartening... and so is the reaction. Judging by the facts listed, I have to agree with Ron. This isn't cruelty, this is selfishness.

If she had told the police what had happenned, she would be charged with drunk driving, drug use, hit-and-run, and whatever else. She probably figured if she just let him die, she could get away with it. After all, she did go out and apologize to him... yeah, I know, it doesn't seem like much of anything when compared to the atrocity of her actions, but if she was truly heartless, wouldn't she just have ignored him completely?

I think that when people automatically label someone "depraved," it's just a defense mechanism to put the criminal an arm's length away... if she is depraved, she is somehow different than we are... she is somehow less human, less deserving of compassion; and I can't accept that idea. She is just as human as I am- just because she reacted differently than I would have in the situation doesn't chnge that.

I too feel a great deal of sadness for this woman- not because I think she is cold or uncaring (I mean, she was a nurse's aide- she obviously had some interest in helping people) but because she made several horrible mistakes that piled up on each other, and much like a fib, became harder to disclose as more time went by. I feel sadness for this woman because she has to live not only with all this on her conscience, but with the horror of others' on her back.

"Love is a piano
dropped from a four story window
and you were in the wrong place
at the wrong time." -Ani DiFranco

Sunshine
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9 posted 2002-03-09 03:21 PM



This is when I have to shake my head at "some" of those in the profession I attempt to hold in high regard:
quote:
Mallard's attorney, Mike Heiskell, said: "I think this is overreaching on the part of the prosecution and the police and, in the end, I believe the law will shake out that this was simply a case of failure to stop and render aid."


This is when I think Shakespeare was oh so right...

One thing I have also known to be true is that Fox News is one of the most highly accurate broadcasts around.  And if they find out they are wrong or have misquoted something, they are the first to pull it and/or amend same.

Thank you for bringing this to our attention Ron.  

dgvarner
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10 posted 2002-03-09 04:38 PM


people dont care about one another anymore...and when we stop taking care of each other, the world is a scary place....

i wonder sometimes just what DID parents teach their children..what do they tell their children..i know i try to teach mine courtesy, care, understanding of others' situations, common sense, those sorts of things...but some peoples kids seems so completely clueless...and i know, you can only teach them so much and then they will go out and make their on life based on what they want to remember you taught them...i'm not completely blaming this womans parents...but somewhere along the line, she got lost!!  i cant help but wonder, just where her mind was after the drugs and alcohol wore off...did she walk out into her garage and say..'oh look, that man is stuck in my windshield...did i do that??'   even my 3 yr old knows how to say, "DUH!"

i dunno...the world is a strange place..i like my little "sheltered dwelling" i choose to live in..but the world news seeps in every now and then...i caught this story while flipping channels the other nite too..and i was just as baffled and dumbfounded as anybody with a bit of sense in their head...

peace..g

~dgvarner/fallen rain~

"it may be absurd..but dont be naive..even heros have the right to bleed" john ondrosic?

Temptress
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11 posted 2002-03-09 05:13 PM



This shocked even me and I've had the attitude that nothing could shock me these days.

*sigh*
Makes you rethink your complaints (especially the small ones) about your life when you read about something like this. This is just sad, and I'm not really sure how to react to it right now.

How grave is my condition, for I cannot find the words to say, I need you so.
~Sarah MacLachlan~

Ron
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12 posted 2002-03-09 05:21 PM


quote:
This is when I have to shake my head at "some" of those in the profession I attempt to hold in high regard…

I seriously doubt the lawyer believed, if even for a moment, was he said, Karilea. His job is to avoid judging and try to uphold the oath he took to give EVERY client the best defense possible. His job is going to be a tough one.

quote:
i wonder sometimes just what DID parents teach their children..what do they tell their children..

Personally, I don't think it matters in the least what you tell kids. It's what you SHOW them that counts. I doubt this woman's parents ever told her to be selfish and cowardly. But I'll bet they set the example. Probably in small ways, ways they thought were harmless. Where kids are involved, though, there's no such thing as harmless. Show your child that it's all right for anger to turn into violence, even violence that leaves no permanent mark, and you end up with a Columbine. Show your child a disregard for self-sacrifice and compassion, and you end up with a man slowly bleeding to death in a garage. Kids become what they see. How much they magnify what they've seen, however, is always their OWN responsibility. IMHO, at least.

Nan
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13 posted 2002-03-09 05:28 PM


One of the biggest problems with our comtemporary society is that today's kids are a product of a generation that is largely still 'using' mind-altering substances...

We have an entire culture of  adults that still takes drugs regularly.  Ergo - their kids do as well... Where's their sense of reality?.. It's somewhere in the world of the 'unreal'... 24/7...

RSWells
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14 posted 2002-03-09 06:29 PM


Incredible. My co-workers and I read this account in today's paper and it's beyond imagination. For once I'm speechless.
Ron
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15 posted 2002-03-09 06:29 PM


Isn't rum considered a mind-altering drug, Nan?
SmartChick
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16 posted 2002-03-09 09:55 PM


This is awful! How can anyone be so uncaring?
Marsha
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17 posted 2002-03-09 10:05 PM


This all seems very strange to me, I’ll take your word for it since obviously it is true, this is a world renowned news television network, who would have checked their facts. But this is horrific, spine chillingly horrific. Inhumanity of this magnitude is utterly incomprehensible. What is wrong with a soul who cares so little for someone that they disregard a human in this way. An apology, even several apologies just are not sufficient. In fact so inhuman is it I would have thought it just added to the poor mans torture.

“I’m sorry you’re lying there with fractures to your tibia, fibia, and pelvis, I’m sorry that your spleen has been smashed into your liver and ruptured. And oh I’m sorry that you are dying but you see it’s okay because I’ve said I’m sorry. No I can’t get you any help, no fluids, no touch of kindness, but it will be okay because I’ve said I’m sorry”. These are typical injuries from a front impact This made even worse by the fact that this was a nurses' aid, who would have known what this man needed more than anyone else, or anyone who wasn’t in the medical profession anyway.

As the reports say he probably could have survived. But was actually tortured to death. This is inhumanity that is impossible to fathom, and all I can say is may someone somewhere says a prayer for this person because she definitely needs her eyes opening.

I’m shocked beyond words.

Marsha

To give light to them that sit in darkness..... to guide our feet into the way of peace Luke 2:79


Brad
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18 posted 2002-03-09 10:17 PM


A metaphor.

I agree with Hush. The woman (notice no name) is not 'the other'. She is us.

Can we change it?  I don't know.

Do we have to try?

Do we have a choice?


Poet deVine
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19 posted 2002-03-09 10:35 PM


Before we can understand the crime do we need to understand the woman? Is there a reason she reacted this way?
Brad
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20 posted 2002-03-09 11:00 PM


Wrong question. Once you see how we do much the same thing, most of the time, it makes perfect sense.

It was the homeless person's fault, really. If he just got up, got a job, and did what we do, this wouldn't have happened.

In Saudi Arabia, if an American gets into a car accident, it's the American's fault.

If he or she wasn't there it wouldn't have happened.

Why do we need anymore foreigners coming to America, anyway?

They don't do what we do, they aren't like us. If they die, that's their problem. It's not our fault. We didn't intentionally run over them.

Really, the woman is the victim in this. It's not her fault that people are different.

It's not her fault that she didn't have the time to help the homeless person. She has to go to work, see?

I've watched Fox news quite a bit recently and beginning to understand the arguments, see?

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21 posted 2002-03-09 11:46 PM


All I have to say is I am in shock as she only gets 5 years and a fine of 10,000, that is ridiculous.  In a state, that usually hands out harsh punishments from what friends in Texas have told me, how does that penalty justify the fact that she took someone's life.  Estacy only lasts one day, and the drug would have worn off, so how could this possibly have happened?  How very inhumane.

The pursuit of truth and beauty is a sphere of activity in which we are permitted to remain children all our lives.
  ~* Albert Einstein *~

Alicat
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22 posted 2002-03-10 12:17 PM


I wrote a poem about something similar some time ago, Uncle Victor. He was a relative by marriage who was mentally retarded, but did his best to make-do and be as independant as possible. He walked everywhere, since he knew he didn't have the physical ability to drive. He was hit by a teenager who had swerved into the grass where he was walking, dragged 5 miles, and left. Somehow, he survived for about 5 hours after he was finally taken to the hospital. The girl, who had been drinking, only told her father what had happened when he saw the damage to his car, and the blood. She got 10 years probation for DUI, DWI, Open Container, and Reckless Driving, but wasn't charged for Hit and Run, and Vehicular Homicide. When asked why she didn't immediately call the police, or stop the car, she replied, 'But he was only a bum.'
hush
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23 posted 2002-03-10 01:59 AM


Is Brad the only one who read (cared about?) what I had to say?

I see people dehumanizing this woman left and right... I see people exagerating the facts to somehow make her seem worse and worse in comparison... first of all, the report read that the man did not have a smashed spleen or ruptured liver, and had no internal injuries at all. Second of all, the report read that she could receive 5 years to life in prison, along with a possible 10,000 fine. Assuming that she will only get the minimum somehow incriminates her more? I don't get it.... I just don't get it.

Poet DeVine asked: "Before we can understand the crime do we need to understand the woman? Is there a reason she reacted this way?"

I personally think it's pretty straightforward. If she were caught doing drugs alone, her job would probably be on the line, as well as criminal charges(not to mention her reputation, her relationships with loved ones). Add driving to that, it gets worse. Add manslaughter, vehicular homicide, etc.- you see my point.  

She probably drove home, terrified at what she had done (and probably out of her mind on drugs and alcohol). She probably also thought he was going to die very quickly, and she'd be rid of that burden at least- maybe she even thought that there was no way to help him, and by the time she had had him home long enough to tell that she could help him, it was too late (in her mind) to tell anyone. So... she was trapped into doing something she didn't want to do at all because of one mistake leading to another and another... It's not a case of coldblooded murder... but, as Ron said, selfishness. Her prime motivating emotion was probably fear... but in the end it comes down to fear of losing all the things she had.

Of course, I don't know the woman. This is just the understanding I come to based on one short report. All I'm trying to say is that if we try to understand instead of building up walls to keep this away, it's not that hard to see where she was coming from. And the thing is... I've been chastised before because I told my uncle I don't believe Osama bin Laden is evil or inhuman... and I don't think this woman is evil or inhuman. I just wish we could all try to see things from another's point of view, because even if it's a person we'd rather not associate with, it is, after all, a person.

"Love is a piano
dropped from a four story window
and you were in the wrong place
at the wrong time." -Ani DiFranco

Poet deVine
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24 posted 2002-03-10 04:21 AM


I agree with a lot of what you say hush..that's why I thought we should understand the woman - her background, her motivations, her personality. I think there are very few truly evil people in the world and I don't consider this woman one of them. It's just hard for us, as caring people, to understand how someone's mind worked. You did a good job, I think, of explaining how it could have been.

Phaedrus
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25 posted 2002-03-10 05:35 AM



Speculation as to the reasons these events occurred as they did, without access to the facts, is always going to be just speculation. That’s why we have a Justice system, to weigh the facts and reach a verdict based upon them that is as close to the truth and as far away from speculation as possible.

Only when we have the clearest picture possible can we start to apportion blame; discuss contributing factors and investigate ways to stop this happening again. At that point the speculation becomes constructive as opposed to destructive which is a different animal entirely.

A point, which does strike me as odd and rather interesting, is the opening statement of this post:

“If someone posted a fictional account of this real-life story, I strongly suspect I would delete it. I know I wouldn't believe it, because the story is beyond belief. “


Why would you delete it Ron?

Brad
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26 posted 2002-03-10 07:30 AM


Hmmmm, maybe I'm wrong, Sharon, it's the right question to ask.

My fear is that there's a distancing factor here. Your words echoed something Foucault said. That around the beginning of the nineteenth century, we began to look for reasons for actions that simply had no reasons (He also gives a list of acts that are far worse than this.) I'm guilty of this as well (I don't understand the whole plagiarism thing for example), but I wonder if we try to rationalize the irrational in order to feel safer.

That it's not us but something other that motivates such horror.

Honestly, I think it's fairly easy to change the scenario and see this as similar to things we do everyday (Which doesn't make the act rational, it makes us irrational). It was also mentioned that her friends had urged her not to contact anybody -- isn't that believable?  "Law and Order" has done shows on similar actions and what about "I Know What You Did Last Summer"?

I find this situation far scarier:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000017526mar09.story?coll =la%2Dheadlines%2Dnation

from the text:

"Under pressure from a scandalized community, a Fort Worth judge ordered a nursing home aide back to jail Friday, charged with letting a homeless man bleed to death slowly in her garage."

Procedural law, free from the court of popular opinion, is really the only chance we have and yet so many seem to follow the commentators on Fox news in outrage without reflection.

I think this is an opportunity to look in a mirror.

Brad

[This message has been edited by Brad (03-10-2002 07:35 AM).]

Sunshine
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27 posted 2002-03-10 08:03 AM



One of the things I do in my job, Ron, is be open to both sides of the story.  However, and I will restate that part of the attorney's quote
quote:
"...this was simply a case of failure to stop and render aid."
[emphasis added] that set my blood to scalding...

If it is as was stated,
quote:
Chante Mallard allegedly told police she periodically went into the garage, apologizing to him but doing nothing to help.
then again and at this time, I cannot help but think that she was aware and knowledgable of the situation and just protecting herself.  Unfortunately for both the gentleman and herself, she repeated her same abuse of drink and drug use while at yet another party and disclosed this information in her "right to party".

I think if I were to ever be picked to sit on a jury, it best be over a land and/or water rights case, because surely, the papers and media won't get hold of that beforehand and sway my thinking [unless it were to be about the Louisiana Purchase...]

Still incensed?  Absolutely.  Still aware that our petty troubles are just that? Assuredly so....

Brad
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28 posted 2002-03-10 09:33 AM


But isn't that his job, Sunshine?

Obviously, it's not all the persuasive, but isn't he at least doing what he's supposed to?


Nan
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29 posted 2002-03-10 09:40 AM


"Understanding" this woman's motivations doesn't exonerate her.  It might allow for a smidgeon of empathy for some, but is there really any room for rationalizing her acts?

She was aware enough of her actions to relate them to others... She knew what she did was wrong... This is somewhat akin to a mother drowning her entire family in a bathtub and then calling the police... and pleading insanity using post-partum depression as her defense... um... yeah sure..

I have to agree that I wouldn't want to be on the jury here.. for either of these cases..

This woman did more than 'fail to render aid'... She hit the guy to begin with.  Does it matter whether he died instantaneously or some time later? Did he not die as a result of her actions?  Though she may initially have been charged with 'just' vehicular homicide - an accidental happenstance... Doesn't the complexion change when compounded with her 'gross' negligence to come to the aid of that victim?

Wouldn't a person be charged with first degree murder if they had another in captivity and that person were to die?  Wasn't he in captivity?  It seems that there may be no appropriate charges to suit this crime... It's a pretty darned unprecedented one, isn't it?

Phaedrus - Ron would delete it as being a verbal concoction of grievous harm against another... It's not what we're about here...

Ron - Um... Rum... for medicinal purposes??.. (You know how much I don't imbibe)...SBCYTFA..

[This message has been edited by Nan (03-10-2002 09:41 AM).]

Sunshine
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30 posted 2002-03-10 09:43 AM



To say that "all people are innocent until proven guilty"...yes, that is his job...

period.

I just didn't care for his choice of words.

Apparently this is rubbing me the wrong way.  I see so many good attorneys never getting credit for righting a wrong...and they understand that "it comes with the territory"...

never mind me folks, I'm going to get off this little box with soap in it and go take a shower....

Ron
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31 posted 2002-03-10 10:13 AM


Phaedrus, I would probably have been inclined to remove such a fictional account because I would have seen it as pure sensationalism. Immature writers often seek attention by "one-upmanship," trying to be grosser or more controversial than anyone else has been, and these forums were founded specifically to escape that behavior at another board. That this could happen in real life gives me slight pause, but probably doesn't change my mind about that kind of writing. Real life rarely makes good literature, and every rule needs an exception.

I think hush raises a valid point, but one not in the least limited to this story. Her point, rather, summarizes the history of war and violence. We always dehumanize the enemy. If we didn't, there could be no enemy.

I do think it's important to understand this women, and I don't mean just within the context of the Justice system. The courts will look at WHAT she did, with at best a cursory examination of WHY. As Brad suggested, perhaps there isn't always an answer to why. Certainly there can never be a conclusive answer. But I very honestly don't believe this story is all that complicated.

As others here have suggested, this is different from what most people do only in degree, not in kind. It is a horrifyingly extreme example of a very common situation.

When a little girl watches her mother comfort another child on the playground, not because she's in charge of the child, not because she even knows the child, but simply out of compassion, that small act sends a message to the little girl. Repeat the message over and over, then magnify it by several decades of maturity, and you just might end up with Mother Theresa.

When a little girl does something wrong and begs her mother, "Please don't tell Daddy," that little secret kept so harmlessly also sends a message. Repeat it, magnify it, and fear eventually becomes more important than responsibility. The grown woman need not do what is right as long as there's a chance she can hide what is wrong.

Human beings are enormously complex, and I don't mean to suggest otherwise. But I also think we're remarkably similar. The differences often arise only in where we draw the line between normal and excessive.  

And, to return to my original post, I think the same can be said about anger.

Sunshine
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32 posted 2002-03-10 10:40 AM



Obviously I've yet to visit the shower...

quote:
Human beings are enormously complex


And therein lies every juror's dilemma.  Sadly, we are not allowed to see all the complexities of any given situation.  We are only allowed the facts of the act at hand.

If we were allowed to see all of the complexities, as any good criminal defense attorney tries to bring out, would our jails have half of the capacity...?

As Ron has so well brought out, we are all so similiar in nature...

do we want to hold that very mirror up to ourselves?  Judge not, lest ye be judged...

how very difficult it is to sit, then, as the jury, judging...weighing...seeing inside the glass houses of our own moralities...

NOW I'm going to go take my shower...

again, Ron, my thanks to you for bringing this thread here, and putting more things into perspective....


Ron
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33 posted 2002-03-10 12:38 PM


I've been called to jury duty three times in my life, Karilea. In each of those cases, I was repeatedly excused from serving. In every case where I was questioned, it was the prosecutor who excused me.

I think they're trying to tell me something?



wayoutwalt
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34 posted 2002-03-10 03:09 PM


Ft Worth, my home town yuh
Brad
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35 posted 2002-03-10 04:21 PM


Interesting typo here:

"I do think it's important to understand this women"

My name is legion.


Ron
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36 posted 2002-03-10 04:31 PM


What make you so sure it was a typo, Brad?

I'm sure Freud would have some interesting thoughts on where my thoughts were wondering …

Sunshine
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-25
Posts 63354
Listening to every heart
37 posted 2002-03-10 05:14 PM



LOL at Ron...I've been called four times...you'd think they knew me...or my background...and I'm still excused...by BOTH sides...ROTF....

Madame Chipmunk
Member Rara Avis
since 2001-12-05
Posts 8296
Michigan
38 posted 2002-03-10 06:01 PM


That poor man...that poor woman

and I thought I had problems!

copyright2002 Lyra Nesius

"poetry is life distilled"  Gwendolyn Brooks

PoetryIsLife
Deputy Moderator 5 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Senior Member
since 2001-10-27
Posts 1763
...in my boxers...
39 posted 2002-03-11 01:17 AM


What can I say? It's a horrifying story.

After what I went through today ( ) I am not going to see things the same.

~ Titus

Will I ever forget what happened today?

Allysa
Deputy Moderator 10 ToursDeputy Moderator 5 Tours
Senior Member
since 1999-11-09
Posts 1952
In an upside-down garden
40 posted 2002-03-11 03:43 PM


Whoa.
Startime
Member Ascendant
since 2000-10-03
Posts 5918
Canada
41 posted 2002-03-14 06:36 PM


*sigh* I had to respond though I don't know what to say....
This world and it's growing lack of love and compassion scares me...what kind of heart does it take to allow such suffering....this story hurt my soul in ways that I cannot even begin to explain....
Ron...thank you for showing me another sight of reality...it makes me want to withdraw into my cancer shell and hide from a world insane and yet it makes me also want to contribute some real love and compassion to a world spinning into a darkness of the soul...

RosePetal
Deputy Moderator 5 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Elite
since 2001-08-26
Posts 2985
South Florida
42 posted 2002-03-14 09:15 PM


The bottom line is that a man died because of her, she LET him die, that is a fact.
My opinion is that she should have gotten more than five years for hiding the body, I understand she was probably scared out of her mind but she should have went about it differently.  

inot2B
Member Elite
since 2000-09-18
Posts 2205
Arkansas
43 posted 2002-03-15 08:32 PM


She left the man stuck in her car, to die. Coming in to say I'm sorry and then close the door to get on with her life. Sure she was afraid, but to let a man suffer like that. A nurses aide is suppose to help people. Would any of you out there want her to be the one to care for your loved ones? I can not feel sorry for her, I only feel bitter disgust. The man was homeless, would it of made it worse if he had somewhere to live. No one deserves to be treated like that. May God have mercy on her soul, cause I can't find any in my heart for her.
Bec
Member
since 2001-02-23
Posts 475
Canberra
44 posted 2002-03-18 09:27 PM


This is the first I've heard of this story, and I'm absolutely shocked. I could almost feel the tears come to my eyes as I read it. I know the woman must have been afraid of what was going to happen, but how can someone justify going in to apologise for what happened, and then just leave? I mean, not even take him out of the windscreen? As inot2B said, a nurse's aide's job is to save people, not let them die. Accidents happen, I'm sure she didn't do it on purpose, and if he had survived, her punishment/jail term/fine would have been much less. She brought it upon herself as far as I can see.

Bec

"Poetry and Hums aren't things which you get, they're things which get you. And all you can do is to go where they can find you."
-Winnie-the-Pooh

Romy
Senior Member
since 2000-05-28
Posts 1170
Plantation, Florida
45 posted 2002-03-19 10:07 AM


I don't want to understand what the woman must have been thinking at the time.  I don't care how afraid she might have been or how high she was.  She killed another human being and all I can think about is what the victim might have been thinking.  It hurts me that he was already living a difficult life.  That he died a death that none of us could imagine for ourselves.  Already homeless, what comfort did he draw from his memories in his last breath?  How terrified he must have been.  How sad, when he realized that no help would be given to the likes of him. Left to die in a stranger's garage like a roadside animal.  Was he hungry or thirsty? How would it feel to die while another human watched nearby, offering nothing more than an apology for causing the death?  

Where is my God?

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