[vaskeet]

Texas Dad Accused of Murdering Drunk Driver Who Killed Kids - ABC News
what do you say murder or innocent due to temporary insanity? I say innocent Randy

 

[celt]

Good for him.

 

[piratesailor]

Tough one.. I'm not sure how I'd act if someone killed my daughter... A "true" accident.. Yeah.. But this... Tough.

 

[TexasAviator]

As much as the father in me would like to say innocent, I'd have to say guilty.

The drunk driver is the one who should be on trial for two counts of murder, he should not have been murdered.

Now the surviving kids and the mother will also have to deal with a dad and husband in jail. No matter how you look at it, this is a very sad story.

 

[mingaa]

However it goes down he's hot a rough road ahead of him. There is a lot of potential premeditation in getting the gun then getting rid of it etc.

 

[JoshNix9]

I agree with him being arrested and I would agree with him being found not guilty due to extreme emotional distress. While the bastard who killed his kids deserved to die, he also deserved a trial. I am not saying for a second that I would not do the same (I have no idea how I would react and I pray to God I never find out).

 

[bmbroker]

What a tragedy. I want to side with the father, but know what he did isn't right. No good ending in sight for this story.

 

[leejack]

It's easy for us who were not affected to pass judgement on this tragedy.

Yes, the POS deserved a trial. Like the trial the drunk guy who killed my fathers, mother got down in Florida. He walked because the police made a procedural mistake.

Very tragic indeed. Bless all those affected.

Oh, BTW, drunk drivers are not my favorite people, I will not post again in this thread.

 

[TXEric]

Wrong is wrong. Period.
Sad for him and his family, but it's murder, plain and simple.

 

[tazelmo]

There is just no winner with this. Everybody loses. Sorry for mom and the boys.

 

[ncfarmer]

In my opinion, he should not be charged with murder due to the emotional duress he was
under. He did still take the law into his own hands and now his life will be worse than it
would have been even considering the loss of his children. If I were the District Attorney,
I would have charged him with Voluntary Manslaughter. I would be pushed to the breaking
point if someone had taken away part of my family because of a careless and selfish disregard
of the safety of others.

 

[Peacemakr40]

What has to be looked at are a couple of points. How long did it take the father to walk home, retrieve the firearm and return? Could the father been in a Blinding rage (Seeing Red) for the duration of that scenario?
Other factors to consider. Did the drunk driver have any prior charges and/or convictions for DUI? What there any indication of that the driver still posed a threat ( e.g. he claims to have a gun, would get a gun, etc)
Did the father have any prior history of violence?

Lots of questions and not enough answers to really render a judgement for me. It's a tragedy all the way around with no winners.

 

[FZ1]

BS! He did the world a favor and now being charged with murder. No sympathy for drunk drivers. It is by far one of the most senseless things a person can do and he got what was coming to him.

 

[jspdrcrmach5]

I call it justifiable homicide, I heard last week that He had been convicted of Murder, maybe I heard it wrong.
But there is no way in hell I would have found Him guilty.

 

[LonestarJake]

One of my favorite books, "A Time to Kill" by John Grisham came to mind when I first read this headline. Many would argue the two situations were vastly different, some would not. Maybe the first situation would be argued to be premeditated, definitely racist. Others would argue that getting drunk and getting behind the wheel was equally premeditated, he shouldn't have. Drunks do have a tendency to let alcohol up their racial tendencies, but a drunk behind the wheel probably doesn't care who he runs over or what color their skin is.

Maybe the old saying, but for the "Grace of God, there go I!" enters into the equation. None of us want to put ourselves into the shoes of the father of either child or children.

If they had the father charged with premeditated murder in the current situation, I would probably give him a pass were I on his jury.

I seriously doubt this has been to trial, as it is too recent of an occurrence.

I am anxiously awaiting the trial of Zimmerman in the Travon Martin incident. I think that is scheduled for June, so it will be a while.

 

[Rossi]

Tough one.. I'm not sure how I'd act if someone killed my daughter... A "true" accident.. Yeah.. But this... Tough.

Those are my thoughts, too. Wonder what the drunk's past driving record was? If he'd been arrested before for this same type of offense, then this is yet another case of a tragedy happening because a parole officer or parole board or judge not doing their job. Avoidable.

 

[Scott91370]

I think TexasAviator said it well.

i think the guy might have died at the scene as well if it were me in the dads place. Might have just been a good beat down with a tire iron though. Do I think the guy is a menace to society in general and would do it again? Unfortunately, yes. I only think this because he is going to live with the memory of his boys and possibly the guilt of the shooting and he could go on a rampage. Cances may be slim, but it could happen.

Sure do feel for that entire family,

 

[MadKaw]

It is murder. Intent only needs a split moment to form.
That said, were I to be on his jury, I would be very tempted to go with jury nullification and find him not guilty.

 

[CJS3]

More than likely he'll be allowed to plead to a lesser charge. My wife's second cousin was run down by a drunk driver. If his dad had been there, the same thing would have happened. The only difference being he wouldn't have had to go home first.

 

[Old_Sp5]

There needs to be no premediation to be charged with murder. This incident occurred south of Houston and the news media blog sites were screaming believing this murder charge to be wrong. However, having been a Homicide Investigator for a number of years, I can tell you his act was unlawful, however, the reason behind a lesser charge, perhaps of Manslaughter, because of his emotional distress (diminished capacity) will more than likely be the end result. No jury is going to vote against the Texas murder statute (jury nullification).

If he is convicted of a lesser included offense of Mansalughter, he can receive probation whereas for murder he cannot. The minimum time in prison for murder is five years (1st degree felony).