Rutgers freshman suicide after roommate broadcast gay sexual encounter online?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

Thanks. I'm not sure I understand, though, so maybe I can get an example.


Person A is driving drunk and gets arrested because he's weaving on the road.

Person B is driving drunk and gets arrested because he hit another car and killed the driver of that car.

Assume that neither has a previous criminal record and everything else was the same other than the fact that Person B crashed.

In this fictional location, the penalty for driving drunk is 1 to 3 years in prison. The penalty for manslaughter or murder or whatever killed the innocent driver is 20 years.

If Person A gets 1 year in prison for DUI, should Person B get the same, and then another 10 years for manslaughter or whatever? Or is it reasonable that Person B would get 3 years plus the 10 years because his drunk driving had a worse outcome?

It depends on the statutory scheme, but I'll speak as generally as possible with the understanding that some jurisdictions will differ slightly.

Person B just gets the 20 years only because presumably the statute has already taken into effect the impact of drunk driving. If you're not drunk but just miss a light or something, you'll be considered negligent but the odds of getting dinged with a vehicular homicide charge are pretty slight.

Rather than compound offenses (i.e. manslaugher = 10 years + DUI = 3 for a total of 13), it would simply become a different offense (vehicular homicide for committing manslaughter while drunk = 20 years).

Clear as mud?