03-02-2016, 02:20 PM
Here's a scenario that's comparable to the case at hand.
My niece, at 13 (three years younger than the legal age and without a license/permit), sneaks my key out of my purse when I'm sleeping, drives down the street and drops my truck off at her 13-year-old friend's house because the friend says he needs to drive to school and pick up his math book before his mom gets home from the night shift and beat his ass again...
Her male friend ends up using my truck to ambush and run over his mom and then drives my truck into a wall and kills himself. First responders find a note with his body which explains how he tricked my niece into getting my truck and requests that my niece not get in trouble.
I expect that the police would come knocking on my door and I'd be facing a rude awakening shortly thereafter. I would not be surprised if, once police confirmed that I had never authorized my niece or her friend to illegally drive my truck or any other vehicle, my niece would be looking at juvenile charges of authorizing an unlicensed minor to drive a vehicle, or an existing law of that nature, despite the fact that I wouldn't be filing a police complaint against her for stealing my truck (and therefore she might avoid also being charged with 'auto theft' and driving a vehicle without a license).
I would not insist that my niece should not be held accountable for her actions because she was duped, or that because she'd ridden in the truck with me before that she innocently assumed the truck was community property to be shared with friends in despair, or that LE was trying to "scapegoat" my niece for the murder/suicide, or that people who wanted my niece to accept legal responsibility were discriminating against automobiles, or anything of that sort... because I'm not full of shit.
If the dead kid's father (dead mom's ex-husband) told the DA he didn't want my niece to be prosecuted, I'd appreciate the DA considering the victim's wishes and maybe working with me to get her into some kind of a program to learn, take accountability for her illegal actions, and minimize the chances of her committing other such crimes in the future.
However, I would understand if the DA instead felt he had an obligation to prosecute her as a juvenile under the existing laws and go for a light/minimum sentence; I would not consider that 'ruining my niece's life'. I would consider it requiring her to take reasonable personal responsibility for her willful illegal actions.
In any case, you bet your ass that my niece would be facing separate consequences from me for stealing my truck and the tragedy that ensued (along with compassion for her loss/guilt and securing whatever professional psychological/emotional counseling she needed to deal with the situation).
I think most responsible parents/guardians would think along the same lines.
My niece, at 13 (three years younger than the legal age and without a license/permit), sneaks my key out of my purse when I'm sleeping, drives down the street and drops my truck off at her 13-year-old friend's house because the friend says he needs to drive to school and pick up his math book before his mom gets home from the night shift and beat his ass again...
Her male friend ends up using my truck to ambush and run over his mom and then drives my truck into a wall and kills himself. First responders find a note with his body which explains how he tricked my niece into getting my truck and requests that my niece not get in trouble.
I expect that the police would come knocking on my door and I'd be facing a rude awakening shortly thereafter. I would not be surprised if, once police confirmed that I had never authorized my niece or her friend to illegally drive my truck or any other vehicle, my niece would be looking at juvenile charges of authorizing an unlicensed minor to drive a vehicle, or an existing law of that nature, despite the fact that I wouldn't be filing a police complaint against her for stealing my truck (and therefore she might avoid also being charged with 'auto theft' and driving a vehicle without a license).
I would not insist that my niece should not be held accountable for her actions because she was duped, or that because she'd ridden in the truck with me before that she innocently assumed the truck was community property to be shared with friends in despair, or that LE was trying to "scapegoat" my niece for the murder/suicide, or that people who wanted my niece to accept legal responsibility were discriminating against automobiles, or anything of that sort... because I'm not full of shit.
If the dead kid's father (dead mom's ex-husband) told the DA he didn't want my niece to be prosecuted, I'd appreciate the DA considering the victim's wishes and maybe working with me to get her into some kind of a program to learn, take accountability for her illegal actions, and minimize the chances of her committing other such crimes in the future.
However, I would understand if the DA instead felt he had an obligation to prosecute her as a juvenile under the existing laws and go for a light/minimum sentence; I would not consider that 'ruining my niece's life'. I would consider it requiring her to take reasonable personal responsibility for her willful illegal actions.
In any case, you bet your ass that my niece would be facing separate consequences from me for stealing my truck and the tragedy that ensued (along with compassion for her loss/guilt and securing whatever professional psychological/emotional counseling she needed to deal with the situation).
I think most responsible parents/guardians would think along the same lines.