Comments on: West Seattle Crime Watch followup: Guilty plea in deadly crash

By: gia

gia — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 23:33:38 +0000

The idea of an ankle bracelet with alcohol monitoring is a good one, however, it is expensive, approximately 14.00 per day. That can be costly to a recently released convicted felon that is searching for a job. Most courts do not allow this cost to be waived or commuted to community service hours. So, then if the offender is not able to pay, and his family wont, then this idea may not be feasible. Antabuse is the pill that can assist with chronic alcoholism. This med, like your blood pressure med, or your acid reflux med, is as good as long as you are taking it. Not sure if someone can be court ordered to take this med (psych meds yes, this med, im not sure of). I agree with treatment being incorporated into the sentence, jail first, then to treatment both inpatient as well as out patient, treatment can help with the disease and provide coping skills, so that taking the pill would then become something the patient would WANT to do. Lots of times you get more bees with honey then vinegar. :)

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 15:57:26 +0000

this is one more case of a welfare drunk ,he will be under state care for the rest of his life constantly going from jail term to jail term. while the law-abiding people get taxed to death funding one after another non-working program for drunks.

By: WS MOM

WS MOM — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 15:48:23 +0000

I agree with AG. There has to be some way to prevent this, before someone is hurt or killed, perhaps ankle monitoring, or a pill to prvent drinking.

By: AG

AG — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 05:27:12 +0000

I say this with a lot of empathy for the disease of addiction as it runs in my family. Some addicts harm themselves and their families in less severe ways, though it also takes its toll.

But those who repeatedly drive under the influence, seriously hurt or kill people while doing so, over and over, and totally resist treatment — there HAS to be a better way to keep the community safe. I wonder if there could be some sort of a system whereby those most likely to reoffend could be monitored more closely. I’m just brainstorming, and know this is a seed of an idea that would need a HUGE amount of work, but what if we could identify those who are certain to continue to cause harm and mandate that the last portions of their sentences be served in intensive rehabs? What if we actually treated them for the addiction once they’d done the majority of their time?

To be ultra clear, this guy deserves punishment that fits the crime. Absolutely. Lock his ass up. But he also CLEARLY needs some very intensive work in a rehab center in order to not continue to be a horrendous danger to our community when he’s paroled in a few years due to overcrowding. I’m not even thinking about funding sources or any of that, but the idea itself. Is it possible?

By: Townie

Townie — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 05:25:34 +0000

I’m with Ray–I vote this derelict off the island. My sincere sympathies to the families devastated by this tragic event.

By: biankat

biankat — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 03:43:57 +0000

Agree with you, Ray. Tragic.

By: Ray

Ray — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 01:58:19 +0000

This is frustrating. He is a repeat, repeat offender, has violations where he consciously tried to override enforcement of his penalties, and has now ended up killing a person. And he is only going to get 13 years? Sadly, armed robberies where no one gets hurt result in longer sentences. This guys should be locked away for life. He is not responsible enough for himself and is a constant and ongoing danger to everyone else.