Is This Right or Wrong?

[ralph]

METRO VANCOUVER -- Family of Terry Mitchell were distraught and angry Thursday morning, after learning that the man who killed Mitchell will serve only two years of probation.

Melle Pool, 88, was handed a suspended sentence along with a driving ban and some community service by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Bruce in a New Westminster courtroom. He pleaded guilty last year to dangerous driving causing death.

Mitchell died on Feb. 25, 2008 when he was working for Valley Traffic Systems on a work site along River Road just east of Fort Langley.



Read more: http://www.langleyadvance.com/news/Elderly+gets+probation+Langley+road+death/4380423/story.html#ixzz1Fd7isXlA

In a nutshell, an 88 y/o man drives when he isn't legally allowed to, hits and kills a construction site flag man and receives no jail time due to his age, poor health and sick wife.

Some how this doesn't seem equitable BUT I also understand that sending an 88 y/o man to prison doesn't make sense either. 15 hours of community service is a joke...it's a slap in the face to the family of the dead man.

[coolcountrycowboy]

Some how this doesn't seem equitable BUT I also understand that sending an 88 y/o man to prison doesn't make sense either. 15 hours of community service is a joke...it's a slap in the face to the family of the dead man.

Totally agree, he should spend the rest of his life doing community service. Maybe working in the office of criminal act victims claims, so maybe he would understand what he has done...

[coolcountrycowboy]

You know what! After thinking about it, he should spend the rest of his life in jail. At 88 yo, who is gonna stop him to do it again. He already showed that he doesn't care about the law since he shouldn't be driving at the first place. And with that little slap on the finger, that's really dissuasive...

Lets put him in jail for the rest of his life and for his wife, I feel sorry for her but her husband is a public danger.

[ralph]

And your two responces was exactly what I struggled with. My conservative idealogy says lock him up regardless but as I age/mellow I become a little more....(I can't use that "L" word describing myself)

The old pk deserves much more than he got and the victims family fells like they were kicked in the stones! Making the old guy do some volunteer work might be a good start but as you mentioned he and the family knew for years what he was doing.

I feel for his wife BUT she also allowed it to happen.