Pot Meet Kettle!
[Click to read]As many friends of Girl Ipsa know, I aspire to the prosecutor's office. I know, there is a lot more money to be made in private practice, or so I'm told, but I have an ideal. I wanna lock the bad guys up! (Not a lot of that in a wills & trusts practice...)
So, you can see why this frosted me. According to AP news:
A prosecutor known for being "tough as nails" in drunken driving cases was charged with DUI after police said they stopped her with three children in her car.
This is truly the pot calling the kettle black.
And how many of you wanna bet that she tries to make a deal with the prosecution? She is contrite and remorseful! And only three times the legal limit!
I want to hold her to a higher standard. And you should, too. She knows. It's her job to punish people who do this idiotic thing. Should there be any question about her keeping that job? She should resign. And if she doesn't resign she should be fired. Period.
Then turn your attention to her kids. Three kids in the car with mommy who "was found to have a blood-alcohol level of 0.23 percent, nearly three times the legal limit in Florida for drivers, police said." Apparently, in Florida, this is occasionally charged as child neglect. Neglect. Girl Ipsa is once more incredulous. This isn't neglect, this is endangerment. (In fact, if I ruled the world, it'd be attempted murder... I'd add Criminal Stupidity of a Mother to the mens rea for murder which would extend to this and all incidents where the kids are left in cars to bake or left with drug addict abusive boyfriends)
What more can I say? This makes me angry. I think that you reach a certain point in life and you have to choose. Choose between your penchant for booze and your life as a prosecutor. As our first year torts prof so aptly said "Don't mix the bottle and the throttle". This was not just general good advice, although it was that, but a specific entreaty to us as law students to respect the position in society we sought to fill. We weren't even there yet. But he endeavored to instill in us a respect for the ideal, a respect for our colleagues. And a respect for ourselves.
The hypocrisy of this woman astounds me.
posted by Girl Ipsa at 10:22 AM
2 Comments:
Neglect, in Florida, is abuse without hitting. Statutory definition allows only two categories, so all manner of things get called neglect...but the response is to turn the dependency hearings to come over to the Department of Children and Families. Google them, see how many hits you have to go through to find one that's not a scandal.
As to your aspirations, especially if you don't like being surprised at the contents of the legal sausage, so to speak, I highly recommend an internship before you ever sign up at any SA or DA's office. Its not so much the money, trust me, there are other issues at play.
Long story short, you may hold police and prosecutors to a higher standard. And the public may expect that. But expectation and result aren't always buddies.
(Yes, I was there as an intern for half a year)
I do agree with you that this woman should be charged and all, but it's obvious this women has an alochol problem. It's a shame that she couldn't have gotten help before something terrible like this happened.
Post a Comment
<< Home