Guy who killed young man who pulled into wrong driveway last yr gets Probation/$500fine

[Liberal_in_LA]

http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/georgia-man-shoots-and-kills-latino-22-year-old-pulling-wrong-driveway-gets-500

In January 2013, 22-year-old Georgia Tech student Rodrigo Diaz, alongside his girlfriend and two other friends, pulled into a driveway in Gwinett County, Georgia, hoping to pick up a friend for skating. It turned out to be the wrong driveway. The homeowner, Phillip Sailors, emerged from the home and fired a warning shot with his .22 pistol. As Diaz began to drive away, Sailors fired again, striking Diaz in the head and killing him.

Despite these circumstances, police arrested Diaz's girlfriend and their two friends and held them overnight. This week, Sailors pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, and will have one year of probation and be charged a $500 fine.

[Control-Z]

1. Sadly, K&R (nt)

[C Moon]

2. No! That's awful!

[usspicard]

3. its georgia

the land of the brown and black dont matter

[brush]

17. This sounds so much like the case of shooter at the convience store . . .

who shot into the car of teenagers and killed one.

They found him guilty and he's in jail for life. The same should happen to this guy.

There was no reason to shoot, except his apparent racism.

[SunSeeker]

4. K & R for exposure. nt

[Helen Borg]

5. I don't really get all this "forgiveness" talk in this case...

Sure, forgiveness is necessary to move on at a personal level. But at a societal level, the message is something like "well, these things just happen". As if it was a natural phenomenon we have no control about, as if this guy did not have a choice. The message should be that if you engage in this kind of behavior then you end up in jail for a long time.

[SunSeeker]

7. I don't get it either. Sailors did not even apologize.

I could see if the old man showed extreme remorse, but this guy never even said so much as "sorry."

Sailors, who admitted as part of the lawsuit that he killed Diaz out of negligence, offered no statement or apology during his sentencing hearing.

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/11/georgia-man-avoids-jail-after-fatally-shooting-man-guided-by-gps-to-wrong-driveway/

The man is a danger to society and should not be on the streets.

[braddy]

6. He was clearly in the wrong and killed someone

I don't see how this isn't a serious crime involving killing an innocent person and firing into a car of innocents with intent to kill, and with no justification or defense argument.

[exboyfil]

8. The prosecution showed too much deference to

the family of the victim. In a sense it really does not matter that they wanted leniency. It is in society's best interest to send a message that this behavior will not be tolerated.

Wait a second - they were Latino. Never mind.

[raccoon]

9. They were DRIVING AWAY, and he fired again? Sounds more like

2nd degree murder to me.

Yeah, this murderer is a danger to society.

[KansDem]

12. "2nd degree murder to me."

You have a point. Firing a "warning shot" then a second time at the man's head while he's driving away, does not sound like "a crime in which the victim's death is unintended."

Find Law

[newfie11]

10. This was a blatant murder

I wonder if we're just hearing more about nonwhites being murdered now or is this on the increase.

[exboyfil]

11. Always has been going on

remember Yoshihiro Hattori.

[Enthusiast]

13. Is this a great country, or what?

[malaise]

16. Only if

you're a white male

[UglyGreed]

14. Oops my bad

oh well at least my life goes on........

[B Calm]

15. Why did the 70 yr old shoot in the first place? Why was he scared? Why did the cops arrest the kids?

So much is not being told here in this article.

[muriel_volestrangler]

18. And ballistic evidence indicated Sailors lied about it

Porter said Monday the case was either a murder or misdemeanor involuntary manslaughter. But while he said ballistic evidence did not support Sailors’ version that he shot Diaz because he feared the car was trying to run him over, the then-69-year-old man was a sympathetic defendant because he didn’t even have a record of traffic violation, Porter said.

http://www.ajc.com/news/news/man-gets-12-months-probation-500-fine-in-fatal-gwi/nh8sT/

'Sympathetic'? He shot a man who was driving away, and lied about it. That second shot was not 'negligence', it had a purpose. To injure or kill.

[leeroysphitz]

19. Ouch! n/t

[Lurks Often]

20. Why did the prosecutor offer such a plea deal?

It seems that at the very least voluntary manslaughter would have been an easy verdict to get and 2nd degree murder shouldn't have been out of reach.

[lpbk2713]

21. Who greets arriving guests with a firearm?

Why was Sailors armed and ready to fire so quickly? It could have been
friends or family pulling into the driveway. Justice was not served here.

[etherealtruth]

22. Compare and contrast this story to the metro Detroit killing of Renisha McBride

This is not all that different a story ... except that a far more just outcome was reached at trial

Detroit-area man gets 17 to 32 years for shooting visitor on porch

No one may ever know why 19-year-old Renisha McBride knocked on the door of Theodore Wafer’s house in a Detroit suburb before dawn in November. But there is no dispute that Wafer, 55, afraid and groggy, shot McBride through his screen door, killing her, and then called 911.

After an emotional trial in a city where racial tensions have been escalating during bankruptcy proceedings, Wafer was sentenced Wednesday to 17 to 32 years in prison as McBride’s family watched. http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-porch-killer-sentenced-20140903-story.html