Murder Charge for Killing Cyclist

The guy that ran down and killed James Dein and injured Ted Aberg on
Highway 9 near Los Gatos on Feb 19 is being charged with second degree
murder. See http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...9748146.htm?1c

I wouldn't call it good news, but it is satisfactory in the
circumstances if the prosecuter doesn't wimp out and plea bargain it to
something less.

Mike

On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 03:12:00 GMT, mmcgr wrote:

The guy that ran down and killed James Dein and injured Ted Aberg on
Highway 9 near Los Gatos on Feb 19 is being charged with second degree
murder. See http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...9748146.htm?1c

I wouldn't call it good news, but it is satisfactory in the
circumstances if the prosecuter doesn't wimp out and plea bargain it to
something less.

Mike

I have the full text if anyone wants it - that site is asking for a log in,
etc.

-B

On Fri, 24 Sep 2004 23:31:36 -0400, Badger_South
wrote:

On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 03:12:00 GMT, mmcgr wrote:

The guy that ran down and killed James Dein and injured Ted Aberg on
Highway 9 near Los Gatos on Feb 19 is being charged with second degree
murder. See http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...9748146.htm?1c

I wouldn't call it good news, but it is satisfactory in the
circumstances if the prosecuter doesn't wimp out and plea bargain it to
something less.

Mike

I have the full text if anyone wants it - that site is asking for a log in,
etc.

-B

Yes, or paraphrase it. Was it a hit and run? I forget the details of
the accident, it was quite a while back.

wrote in :
Yes, or paraphrase it. Was it a hit and run? I forget the details of
the accident, it was quite a while back.

Yes it was (multiple) hit and run. The accused murderer hit a car and was
fleeing that collision (erratically through heavy traffic) when he ran off the
main road and hit 2 bicyclists in the bike lane. One of the cyclists landed on
his windshield. Then he sped off again. Witnesses got his license plate
number. After extensive media coverage, he turned himself in a day or two
later.

Badger_South

wrote:

I have the full text if anyone wants it - that site is asking for a log in,
etc.

Here are the most important parts:

Murder charge in death of cyclist


HIT-RUN COLLISION KILLED ONE MAN, HURT ANOTHER IN LOS GATOS

By Chuck Carroll and Crystal Carreon

Mercury News


A San Jose man was charged Thursday with second-degree murder for a February
hit-and-run collision that killed one cyclist and injured another along Highway
9 in Los Gatos.

David Anthony Espino, 38, allegedly drove off after fatally striking James
Dein, 56, of Mountain View and injuring Ted Aberg, 65, of Palo Alto, on Feb.
19.

Espino, who is already in custody at the Santa Clara County Main Jail on an
unrelated probation violation and other warrants, is to be arraigned on the new
charges Monday. If convicted, he could face 20 years to life in prison.
---snip---

Several witnesses told police they saw the van weaving across the lanes, and
Espino allegedly tried to escape a hit-and-run seconds before the fatal
collision. Driving on a flat tire, Espino, authorities say, rear-ended another
motorist and accelerated into the bike lane while trying to flee, striking the
two cyclists.

---snip---

Espino is also charged with hit-and-run, reckless driving causing bodily
injury, driving on a suspended driver's license and being under the influence
of phencyclidine (PCP) at the time of his arrest.

---end quote---

A sad case made sadder by the refusal of lawmakers and judges to admit that
just about all probation for adult offenders does is create jobs for probation
officers and keep prison populations lower. It seldom "rehabilitates" anyone
over the age of 25. Had Espino been incarcerated at the time he would not have
been able to get high and kill Dein that day.

Regards,
Bob Hunt

On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 03:12:00 GMT, mmcgr wrote:

The guy that ran down and killed James Dein and injured Ted Aberg on
Highway 9 near Los Gatos on Feb 19 is being charged with second degree
murder. See
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...9748146.htm?1c

I wouldn't call it good news, but it is satisfactory in the
circumstances if the prosecuter doesn't wimp out and plea bargain it to
something less.

Mike

After having read the article, and how many chemicals this guy had in his
system, plus the way he was driving, (apparently normal for him) makes me
wish they could give out a first degree murder charge for this. Anybody
who does PCP needs to be in jail to begin with, and anyone driving under
the influence should be given 5 years mandatory jail time. That stuff is
far worse than alcohol. Back in 1972 I knew a kid who thought he could
outsmoke anyone with the stuff and they found him sitting on his Harley
(that his parents bought him) in a puddle of **** and he could not even
remember his name. Other hot shot drug users I knew went from being A+
students to vegetables by smoking cheap pot laced with it. This is one
drug that should have extrememly strict sentencing, including life for
manufacturing or selling, not to mention being stupid enough to use it.
There's one driver I never want to see on the road again.
Bill Baka


--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

Bill Baka wrote:
After having read the article, and how many chemicals this guy had in his
system, plus the way he was driving, (apparently normal for him) makes me
wish they could give out a first degree murder charge for this.

I'm waiting to see this type of charge files for someone who wasn't
under the influence, didn't flee the scene, but was just driving in
a grossly negligent fashion. Cases like this one are so extreme,
they don't provide much reassurance that the rights of cyclists to the
roads are being respected.

Rick Warner wrote:

I think there is a hint that the prevailing wind has changed. The
D.A. in Sonoma got full pleas from the two drunk drivers that killed
cyclists up there this past spring, and the judge showed toughness in
the first sentence. Now the SCC D.A. has shown a get tough attitude
in making this charge. The momentum seems to be in the right
direction, IMO.


Progress, even if slow, is progress....

I should clarify, however. I don't necessarily want to see more
murder charges. I have no problem at all with these cases falling under
the definition of negligent homicide, and being charged as such. The
problem is with the lack of homicide convictions, not too few murder
charges.

Even limiting it to the scope of vehicle code, I'd like to see a LOT MORE
license revocations, for at least a year. That's the key thing -- get the bozos off the
road. Then "driving without a license" and hitting someone could
result in book-throwing. It was discussed previously the law in the Netherlands
(I think) may be changed to allow those with stripped licenses to ride
40kph carts. This is a great idea, as it would make a license revocation
more palatable to Americans.

Dan

I should clarify, however. I don't necessarily want to see more
murder charges. I have no problem at all with these cases falling under
the definition of negligent homicide, and being charged as such. The
problem is with the lack of homicide convictions, not too few murder
charges.

Even limiting it to the scope of vehicle code, I'd like to see a LOT MORE
license revocations, for at least a year. That's the key thing -- get
the bozos off the
road. Then "driving without a license" and hitting someone could
result in book-throwing. It was discussed previously the law in the
Netherlands
(I think) may be changed to allow those with stripped licenses to ride
40kph carts. This is a great idea, as it would make a license revocation
more palatable to Americans.

The problem is that a large number of people with revoked licenses (most
often for DUIs) continue to drive, and the penalty for getting caught doing
so is apparently not enough to cause them to reconsider. And I seriously
doubt such people would feel that being restricted to a vehicle that says
"Hey, look at me, if I'm driving this I must be a drunkard" is going to
encourage them to leave their weapon of mass destruction in the garage.

We need to have an extraordinarily effective discouragement to being caught
driving with a suspended license. Better yet would be a way to physically
prevent such people from driving, but how that could be accomplished is
beyond me. But once it's clear there are really serious ramifications to
being caught, we might see some change in behaviour.

Perhaps public service spots on TV and in newspapers, featuring the latest
punishments given for DUI & related crimes? It wouldn't even have to list
names, just the community where they reside, what they did, and what the
sentence was. Obviously, the "easy" sentences wouldn't be included, just
the ones that look nasty (hopefully there would be some). It would also be
cool if you could list how much the lawyer was paid who didn't get the guy
(or woman) off.

Hey, we can always dream...

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
IMBA, BikesBelong, NBDA member

"Dan Connelly" wrote in message
...
Rick Warner wrote:

I think there is a hint that the prevailing wind has changed. The
D.A. in Sonoma got full pleas from the two drunk drivers that killed
cyclists up there this past spring, and the judge showed toughness in
the first sentence. Now the SCC D.A. has shown a get tough attitude
in making this charge. The momentum seems to be in the right
direction, IMO.


Progress, even if slow, is progress....

I should clarify, however. I don't necessarily want to see more
murder charges. I have no problem at all with these cases falling under
the definition of negligent homicide, and being charged as such. The
problem is with the lack of homicide convictions, not too few murder
charges.

Even limiting it to the scope of vehicle code, I'd like to see a LOT MORE
license revocations, for at least a year. That's the key thing -- get
the bozos off the
road. Then "driving without a license" and hitting someone could
result in book-throwing. It was discussed previously the law in the
Netherlands
(I think) may be changed to allow those with stripped licenses to ride
40kph carts. This is a great idea, as it would make a license revocation
more palatable to Americans.

Dan

On Sat, 25 Sep 2004 03:12:00 GMT, mmcgr wrote:

The guy that ran down and killed James Dein and injured Ted Aberg on
Highway 9 near Los Gatos on Feb 19 is being charged with second degree
murder. See http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercu...9748146.htm?1c

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