Judge gives DRUNK DRIVER a 17 yr sentence

[syciprider]

After ripping him a new one

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1242360.html

Roberto P. Vellanoweth said he was sorry for the "terrible mishap" on "that fateful day," and he quoted the late Pope John Paul II about justice, love and mercy.

Then it was Sacramento Superior Court Judge Patrick Marlette's turn. If justice, love and mercy were to be meted out Tuesday in his courtroom, Marlette made it very clear they would go to the friends and family of the four people Vellanoweth killed last year in a drunken driving rampage on South Land Park Drive.

"I think it's important," the judge began, "that everybody understand how offensive it is to the community and the court to call this a 'fateful' day, and to call this a 'mishap,' to treat this as if this was something that came down out of the sky and fell down on that family and devastated that family, to pretend that this is something some power had in store for this family."

With that, Marlette ripped into Vellanoweth in sentencing remarks that lasted 50 minutes. When the judge finished, Vellanoweth, 64, a once-prominent state executive and gubernatorial appointee, walked out of the courtroom in his jail-suit orange, chained wrists to waist, headlong into a maximum state prison term of 17 years and eight months.

For now, the sentence wraps up a case that began March 26, 2007, when Vellanoweth crashed his Jeep Grand Cherokee into another car and killed Brizchelle Rice-Nash, 21, her 19-month-old son, Kamall Osby, her sister Brittanya Rice-Nash, 17, and family friend Shanice Patrice Carter, 18. A fifth teenage victim, Tanisha Jackson, survived the crash but suffered extensive internal injuries.

Vellanoweth's new lawyer, Dan Brace, said his family intends to appeal the sentence.

"It was very disappointing that he would give the upper term," Brace said of the judge.

Before Marlette lashed Vellanoweth, relatives of the victims told the court the deaths left them "robbed," "devastated," "confused." They said they could not yet find it in themselves to forgive Vellanoweth.

"I didn't know whether or what to feel, whether to hate, whether to forgive," said Carter's grandmother, Marie Green. "As this went on, I was prepared to forgive Mr. Vellanoweth, but it was as if he dismissed our children as a nuisance."

April Rice, the mother of Brizchelle and Brittanya and the grandmother of Kamall, wished the worst on Vellanoweth. She said he lied in his defense testimony that the crash was Brizchelle's fault. She said his attempt to "save himself" by blaming her "disgusts me."

"He should have wrapped himself around a telephone pole and it would be all over and we wouldn't be here today and he wouldn't be facing prison," Rice said. "He would be in his grave, like my children."

According to trial testimony, Vellanoweth was speeding at 72 miles per hour on the rain-slickened city street while impaired by a blood-alcohol reading measured several hours later at 0.16.

Vellanoweth testified at trial that he had a three-martini lunch with friends, and that the since-deceased wife of a friend got him further wasted on a "virgin kamikaze" where he couldn't taste the booze.

The defendant didn't mention that story Tuesday, nor did he refer back to the temporary abdominal problem his highly paid experts claimed kept him sober at the time of the fatal crash but healed in time for him to absorb the 0.16 reading that came later.

Instead, Vellanoweth said "there are no words to express the remorse I feel for the tragedy." He said he was sorry and that it was "so sad" he couldn't apologize to the victims' families earlier, but that he was only following his lawyer's orders. He spoke on behalf of his lifetime of accomplishment and responsibility and blamed his bad behavior after the crash – he refused to take an alcohol test and berated police and fire personnel – on his being in a state of shock.

"I ask for your mercy," he told the judge. "I ask that this terrible accident that I took responsibility for as a result of all the testimony and because of the jury's finding me guilty, I take the utmost responsibility for what that decision is."

Calmly and in measured tones, Marlette responded with a full-bore castigation of Vellanoweth for his behavior before, during and after the wreck, for his testimony at trial, and for his statements of the moment.

The judge repeatedly characterized Vellanoweth's accounts of the crash and of his downing the mysterious drink as preposterous and ridiculous. He accused Vellanoweth of throwing his friends, even his wife, whom he first told police was driving the Jeep at the time of the crash, "under the bus."

Marlette pointed his finger at Vellanoweth and told him he made "a conscious decision" to drive drunk after he got "gassed up" on the martinis. He called him arrogant.

Turning aside Vellanoweth's claim to character based on his executive career and service as a lay official in the local Catholic diocese, Marlette said the test of the defendant's "true character" came when he tried to blame Brizchelle Rice-Nash in court for the crash. And he did it, the judge pointed out, in the very presence of April Rice, the victim's mother.

"You talk about mercy," Marlette said. "You had the opportunity to show mercy yourself. But you weren't exercising mercy when you tried to shift responsibility for the deaths of the four people you killed to those people themselves, in her face."

If it came down to a matter of character, the judge said, score another one against the defendant.

"You got up here on this stand and you lied," Marlette told Vellanoweth. "You not only lied to take the responsibility away from yourself, you lied to give the responsibility to people who were the victims of your responsibility. And I'm taking that as a measure of your character."

Drunk drivers are right up there with child molesters.

[hey]

Lol at trying to appeal the sentence. He deserves life at the very least for killing 4 people out of his own idiotic decision. I'm sorry that an idiot like him is part of the Catholic community.

[mrokern]

Originally Posted by syciprider

After ripping him a new one

http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/1242360.html



Drunk drivers are right up there with child molesters.

I agree with the comment from the family member that he should have wrapped his own car around a pole. Would save the taxpayers some money.

Appeal? This piece of **** should never, ever see the light of day again. Screw him, he's a waste of blood.

-Mark

[EricF]

The judge got it right.

[Bassman7PM]

This dude should have gotten life. Drunk drivers know they're drunk when they get behind the wheel so their actions are no less than premeditated murder. Homicidal Maniacs!!!

[Trevorus]

Good work by that judge to call it like it is. I like hearing when our justice system works.

[syciprider]

Originally Posted by Bassman7PM

This dude should have gotten life. Drunk drivers know they're drunk when they get behind the wheel so their actions are no less than premeditated murder. Homicidal Maniacs!!!

Exactly. All we need is a legal precedent so we can try these murderers for what they really did.

[Joe Gress]

Never ever drive drunk-Never!

[iamlowsound]

He deserves it and more.

lowsound

[Baryonyx]

Originally Posted by EricF

The judge got it right.

+1

He should do his time with dignity and give this sorry state of affairs the respect it deserves.

[Fassa Albrecht]

Please can the UK have this judge? We could use a few more like this judge...

[EricF]

Originally Posted by Chris2112

+1

He should do his time with dignity and give this sorry state of affairs the respect it deserves.

Based on the article, his dignity was lost long ago. I wish him a long and miserable time getting acquatinted with the ins and outs of the state penitentary system, and the odd desires of his cell mate.

[Bad Brains]

If they really wanted to stop drunk-driving, they would make all sentences, even for those who didn't kill anyone, at least 20 years. They make too much money off drunk drivers though, so they don't want to scare them away.

[Marcus Johnson]

Originally Posted by Bassman7PM

This dude should have gotten life.

It may amount to that anyway at age 67, depending on how the parole board treats him down the line.

[Vorago]

I wished they'd give the same sentences over here.

[Armueller2001]

Originally Posted by joeinsprings

Never ever drive drunk-Never!

Pretty sweet how you can get a DUI for having a beer with dinner and driving to the store afterward... I think getting a DUI should be based on impairment level, not on BAC. They need to concentrate on people who are swerving all over the road like this guy, not the dude who goes and has a couple drinks after work and has a .085 BAC.

[Fassa Albrecht]

Originally Posted by Armueller2001

Pretty sweet how you can get a DUI for having a beer with dinner and driving to the store afterward... I think getting a DUI should be based on impairment level, not on BAC. They need to concentrate on people who are swerving all over the road like this guy, not the dude who goes and has a couple drinks after work and has a .085 BAC.

Impairment level is pretty subjective though. Some people can hold their drink and not show a single sign, others are falling around after a single drink. BAC is objective

[Armueller2001]

Originally Posted by Fassa Albrecht

Impairment level is pretty subjective though. Some people can hold their drink and not show a single sign, others are falling around after a single drink. BAC is objective

Exactly. The dude who goes and has a couple drinks after work and is at .08 isn't really impaired at all compared to the 17 yr old who drinks and gets a .08 and is swerving all over while driving.

That's what field sobriety tests are for... to test impairment.

[EricF]

Originally Posted by Armueller2001

Pretty sweet how you can get a DUI for having a beer with dinner and driving to the store afterward... I think getting a DUI should be based on impairment level, not on BAC. They need to concentrate on people who are swerving all over the road like this guy, not the dude who goes and has a couple drinks after work and has a .085 BAC.

.08 BAC is over the legal limit, and an automatic DUI no matter whether or not you show signs of impairment. You can also get a DUI if you are impaired, even though you might be under .08 BAC. In fact, if you are impaired from ANY substance (not just alcohol), you can get a DUI. "Driving Under the Influence" doesn't just mean booze.

[CanadaMan]

I feel terrible about all this, but while reading, I couldn't help but wonder - Is Brizchelle really a name? Wow.

I agree that he got what he deserved, he seems like a lying, low life scumbag who's trying to weasel his way out of what he deserves by faking pity, so let him rot.