Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Criminal Law Blogs -> The DUI Blog

Criminal Law

: The DUI Blog

What Does Laughing about Your Victim's Death Get You?

By Total DUI

A Tucson woman, Melissa Arrington, was charged with negligent homicide and two counts of aggravated DUI after she swerved off the road in her car to hit a cyclist, Paul L'Ecuyer, in December 2006. Arrington could have been stuck with a minimum sentence of four years, but the judge didn't hesitate to give her a much higher sentence of 10.5 years, one year less than the maximum, for a phone call that was played at trial that he called "breathtaking in its inhumanity." According to court records and news reports, in the phone call Arrington applauded herself for the incident, saying she should get a parade and a medal for "taking out" a "tree hugger, a bicyclist, a Frenchman and a gay guy all in one shot." She then laughed, and when her friend nervously said it was a terrible thing to say, she replied, "No, it's not...continue to full post

Full post as published by The DUI Blog on January 24, 2008 (boomark / email).