Driver texts while driving, kills someone, gets 8 days in jail.

[proud2BlibKansan]

HUNTSVILLE, Mo. | An Illinois man has pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor in a crash that killed an Amish buggy driver earlier this year in central Missouri.

Jeffrey Fleming, 35, of Staunton, Ill., pleaded guilty Monday in Randolph County Circuit Court to careless and imprudent driving. He was sentenced to eight days of shock time in jail, a one-year suspended jail sentence, two years' probation and 40 hours of community service.

Fleming was initially charged with second-degree manslaughter in the January death of Eli Borntrager of Madison, Mo. Borntrager was northbound on U.S. 63 near Moberly when his buggy was hit from behind.

Phone records showed Fleming sent a text message minutes before the crash. But he denied texting or talking on his cell phone when his car struck the buggy.



http://www.kansascity.com/2010/12/27/2545051/driver-pleads-in-fatal-amish-buggy.html

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Manslaughter and only eight days

there are days...

By the way kiddies DO NOT text and drive... PSA of the day. It is just as bad as driving drunk!

And to all who say but I CAN... why do you think emergency workers DO NOT use radio and drive at the same time?

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. Honk if you love Jesus

Text while driving if you want to meet him.

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. Now that make a great bumper sticker

[hlthe2b]

4. I know that area... This is disgusting.... The man deserved justice.

[grilled onions]

5. Shock Time?

That's a new one. Who's the victim here?

[flvegan]

6. "...Fleming sent a text message minutes before the crash"

"minutes" being the key word that likely got him off a more severe punishment rather than "at the time of". Not to the detriment of Mr. Borntrager's loved ones.

[Fumesucker]

8. Exactly, we have no way of knowing for sure if Fleming was driving when he sent the message..

I know people who text and drive and they scare the crap out of me, but there is a presumption of innocence in criminal cases and if it cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the man was texting while driving then the court must assume that he was not for the purposes of conviction and sentencing.

[HEyHEY]

7. I don't believe in Jail for such things. I really don't

Punishing someone by putting them in jail for something that many people do all the time, however stupid it is, does nothing but use the justice system as a tool for revenge. This man will spend the rest of his life living with this, he is likely to go into depression, even substance abuse.

If he has a family they will also suffer the effects of this, sadly. Putting him in prison would punish them as well.

[KansasVoter]

10. You are right.....

Sometimes shit happens.

[namahage]

13. I'm pretty sure drunk drivers would be the first to claim

that "shit happens," too--after all, it's not like they WANTED anyone dead or injured--they just got unlucky, is all. They're USUALLY careful, and this has NEVER happened to them before (well, maybe they got stopped once or twice, but at least nobody DIED).

So no jail time for DUI fatalities?

[HEyHEY]

14. Holy shit could you make anymore of a stretch of an argument?

Seriously, jesus. By using your argument reasoning, I'll go the other way. I'm a chef and someone jokes to death eating my food too quickly. I made the food to delicious, so I shouldn't get off the hook and be charged with manslaughter.

Drunk driving is someone DRUNK and DRIVING. Not some sober person who, in a moment of poor judgement made a horrendous error.

[KansasVoter]

9. Tell the wHole story.....

He texted minutes before the crash, no proof he was testing during crash. Shit, people, usually right wing idiots want to lock up everyone and throw away key. Every accident is caused by a mistake! Texting or radio or smoking or talking to friends. Or just being a bad driver. Do we have to throw the book at every fatal mistake?

[frylock]

11. Phone records showed Fleming sent a text message minutes before the crash.

that cannot be reiterated enough.

[snappyturtle]

12. OK, let's take the texting out of the picture. How did Fleming

manage to rear end an Amish buggy driver? Amish buggies are hard to ignore.

Point two: Was there some way the exact time of the crash was noted?