Ganesha

https://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/16769207.htm

G60

ugh...slap on the wrist.

i hate meth-heads

mlh122

i would say it wasn't that easy, recently up here a drunk driver killed 2 cyclists, a husband and wife on a tour up the coast. he got a "failure to yield to a cyclist" ticket and a DUI, no jail time and his license was suspended for 60 days.

19 years is better than that, but you are right, not good enough.

Blue Order

I don't know whether 19 years is severe enough or not. He didn't intentionally kill somebody. He did recklessly kill somebody.

If this is too light, what should the penalty be, keeping in mind that an intentional homicide should be punished more severely than a reckless homicide.**










** And keeping in mind that there are different degrees of intentional homicide, and that more severe degrees of intentional homicide are punished more severely than less severe degrees of intentional homicide.

Dchiefransom

The sentence actually would have been for 9 1/2 years, but due to a previous robbery conviction, the sentence is automatically doubled as it's his second "Strike". They're not really sure if it was intentional, or not. I suspect that the D.A. charged him with what he felt confident he could get a conviction for.

Cyclist's killer sentenced
METH ADDICT GETS 19 YEARS; SISTER DESCRIBES HIS CHILDHOOD OF VIOLENCE, DRUGS
By Sean Webby
Mercury News
A Santa Clara County judge on Friday sentenced a homeless felon to 19 years in prison, five months after he capped a meth binge by lethally barreling his Oldsmobile into a popular cyclist riding through the Palo Alto hills.

Moments after learning his fate, a shackled Chevelle Bailey blew kisses to his crying 6-year-old daughter while deputies led him from the courtroom.

The emotional exchange was in stark contrast to the moments after he plowed into John Peckham on a winding back road, then crashed his Oldsmobile Delta 88 down a ravine: When Bailey clambered from the car, he chugged a Coors and tried to walk away.

The hit-and-run galvanized the tight-knight Silicon Valley biking community, dozens of whom sat somberly, some sobbing, in the courtroom as Peckham's mother and others stepped to a dais to tell of their loss and grief.

``You never even stopped to see if you could help my dying son,'' said Mary Ann Parker, a nurse who had come from St. Louis wearing her son's photograph on a string around her neck. She said she woke up from nightmares still seeing her son's yellowed, eviscerated body. ``There is nothing worse than when a mother loses her son.''

The defendant's sister, Charlotte Walker, told Judge Rise Jones Pichon that drugs and violence were commonplace in their crowded, chaotic childhood home. Her older brother, Walker said, had protected her and later watched over her family. Their mother, the judge told the court, now elderly and homeless in Bakersfield, had shot two of her ex-husbands and stabbed another.

``Chevelle is not a menace to society; he needs help,'' Walker said. ``I pray more that Chevelle regains his peace of mind more than for him obtaining his personal freedom.''

She said she loved Bailey and was convinced he never meant to hurt anyone and was deeply remorseful.

Bailey didn't speak in court Friday. But in his probation report, he called Peckham's death ``an act of God.''

``I'm very sorry for the accident, but it wasn't my fault,'' he told the officer. ``The Lord did that. The Lord or the devil, one of them did it. It was out of my hands.''

Even so, in October Bailey pleaded no contest to vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence and causing great bodily injury and a hit-and-run charge. Bailey's no-contest plea was the legal equivalent of a guilty plea. The sentence was doubled when the judge refused to dismiss Bailey's 1986 robbery, which counts as a ``strike'' under California's ``Three Strikes, You're Out'' Law.

The violent death on Old Page Mill Road on Sept. 8 is the story of two separate worlds-- described in police and probation reports -- colliding.

Peckham, a movie-star handsome biomedical engineer, was just as driven to design life-saving medical devices as he was to train and race with the Webcor/Alto Velo Elite cycling team.

He was on lunch break that day, riding briskly ahead of his club members. It was pleasant, sunny. He was in great shape, had a great job, a girlfriend, had just bought a condo in Mountain View. Life was good and moving fast. Just before lunch, he headed into a curve.

Bailey had been living in his car. He had no job and a divorce looming. His sister was raising his young children in Bakersfield. He had a conviction for robbery and had spent time in jail. He had smoked pot, used cocaine and was now a once-a-day meth addict, according to his probation report. He hadn't slept that night. Life was a mess and moving fast.

Police said Bailey was parked under a tree, watching the narrow road fill up with the usual groups of lunchtime bikers coursing up the hill. Suddenly, he punched the gas and made an odd reckless, speeding circuit that led him down the winding road, heading westbound into a curve.

Witnesses said he hit Peckham head on, throwing the broken body on to the hood, the windshield and shedding it onto the asphalt before speeding at least 800 feet away. There he lost control, and crashed down an embankment into a dry riverbed.

Covered with glass, he stumbled out of the old car with a 24-ounce Coors in hand.

``I thought I was going to die,'' he told a CHP officer, according to the probation report. ``But I got out of the car like a soldier, cracked a beer and downed it.''

Once in jail, Bailey quickly agreed to plead no contest.

His lawyer, Gary Goodman, told the court his quick plea was made to spare Peckham's mother further anguish.

``He knows it's not much, but it's the only thing within his power to do,'' Goodman said.

Jay Boyarsky, the supervising deputy district attorney who prosecuted the case, held up a photograph of Peckham in his biking gear and told the judge:

``This is something beyond a horrible tragedy,'' the prosecutor said, ``It's a horrible, horrible crime.''

N_C

I wonder how much of the 19 years is for killing the cyclist & how much is for DUI, hit & run, being high on meth, etc. What is the break down of the charges. I bet he only got like 6 months for killing Peckham, the rest is for everything else.

Drugs & violence were commonplace when we were growing up? I call bull**** on that one when people try to use it as an excuse! So what if drugs & violence were commonplace during your child hood, bo-hoo. It is still not an excuse to do drugs, drive while drunk & kill someone.

Guess what? I grew up in an abusive household too. My youngest sister's father abused me & my brother like you would not believe. He also abused my mother. He still is an alcoholic, not to mention the biggest ******* you'd ever meet. I almost killed him one day, I almost shot him, I still don't know what made me not do it. But for some reason I made the choice not to. I also made the choice not to do the same things he did to my wife & others I love & care for.

People playing the I grew up in an abusive household card is one I call bull**** on. If I can make the choice to do what is right then so can others. It is not a hard thing to do. It is making a simple choice. And using the abusive childhood excuse is not one I'll ever buy. I've been there & I know what it's like but I made the right decision's & I had to create the oppurtunity to do so, it was not given to me or provided for me. I was never coddled or told oh that's ok.

pj7

Wow, I find myself in total agreement with you on this one.
As a note, his sentence was 9.5 years, and that was doubled due to this being his second strike. So the question being now: how much of his 9.5 year sentence was for the death and how much for everything else?

I too feel people should be held responsible for their actions (choices?). I grew up with violence, abuse, and drug use being a part of my life. But it was my decision to do the drugs I did, and every time I was violent it was on my own decision... not this "the lord or the devil made me do it" garbage. The problem is, that Americans (and other countries have followed as well) have the "it's not my fault, not poor little me" syndrome. And large sums of money are thrown at studies to prove it. Hell, alcaholism is now a disease? Gimme a break! Drug abuse a disease? I don't think so. I made a choice to start, and I made the choice to quit. I didn't have to waste tax payers money on making up my own mind.
I'll stop ranting now before Dr. Phil gets on here, sorry to hijack the thread.

MaryAnn

I'm John's Mother. For some reason (maybe because I was (can't look at my bike anymore) a cyclist myself and used this forum prior to his death) I find it necessary to see what people are saying about my dead son. You all talk about the time Chevelle Bailey got. You say, it's a good amount of time, or you say it is fair, or whatever. Well, I'm here to tell you that it is not fair, it is not justice, it is the best we could get from our justice system and the District Attorney on my son's case did the best he could. But, because we have so many criminals and not enough room to provide criminals the room and board they need to keep them off the streets, the killer of my kid only got 19 years. My son's life was worth more than 19 years. Way, way more. He was designing vascular stents that save lives. He was very young and had already 7 patents 3 of which he was the sole author. His job was saving lives. The guy that killed him will be younger than I am now when he gets out. How can anyone say this is fair? How can anyone say this is justice? I just want to understand. I can't understand. I am just wondering if someone, somewhere can explain this to me. Why? Why? My son was a bio-engineer saving lives. Chevelle Bailey was smoking Meth and killing people. Why??? Why is this called "JUSTICE"?
Mary Ann

Speedo

Mary Ann-

Please accept my sympathy for your loss. It's a heartbreaking tragedy, and I hope that in time you will find peace.

Chris Lennon

pj7

Because the internet gives people a voice, and no matter how ignorant/stupid of a voice it is, they chose to use it.
I know what it is like to lose a child myself, so I can feel your frustration. I just can't offer you any answer to your question that would make sense... because I can't answer it myself. Maybe if some of the people who think this is just and fair had one of their children ripped from them they'd understand.

slowandsteady

So the question is: Why the heck is this pillar of society not in prison?

And to everyone else about the abusive, drug addicted, chaotic home, not being an excuse.....Well I would have agreed with you seven years ago, but having adopted a 12 year old from a neglectful, drug addicted, sexually abusive, physically abusive, chaotice home, I can tell you there is abuse and there is abuse. These kids and eventually adults are not normal. They are not capable of being normal.

Being born to a drug addicted mother alters your brain chemistry forever. Being severely abused and neglected alters you forever. They might as well be rabid animals. This isn't to say he isn't responsible and doesn't deserve every second in prison he gets and then some. But don't think you can just get over it. These people are a level of mental illness you cannot comprehend unless you have lived with it.

It isn't an excuse so much as an explanation. People are ultimately responsible for their actions regardless of their upbringing, but don't be so naive to think that being severely abused and drug addicted from birth is something that a person recovers from. They don't.

Wogster

The Justice system, deals only with determination of guilt and doling out the appropriate punishment. It doesn't deal with the reasoning behind the crime in question, because if you ask why the crime was committed, then often you get an answer that may or may not involve warehousing criminals in what really amounts to a zoo. Of course once their time is up, they are given bus fare, and pointed towards the very same issues that led them to prison in the first place.

Okay, so we have a meth head, why is this person taking meth? Maybe they have a mental problem, maybe stress, maybe depression, lack of education, <insert about 3 dozen other reasons here>, whatever. The justice system, needs to ask these kinds of questions, because if you can find the underlying problem, and resolve it, then deal with the addiction. You can then take steps to reintegrate the person into society, and maybe they go on to become a pillar of society.

If the offender had been put through this kind of program on their previous offence, we might not be having this thread now.

pj7

A person who is abused or comes from a drug addicted family does not recover (fully), this is true, but they do learn the difference between right and wrong. And they CAN help themselves. My old man used to beat the **** out of us as kids. And I don't mean a spanking here and there, I mean using things such as wooden boards and chairs. My baby brother, who is a grown man now and is the person responsible for my father not being able to do it anymore, was beaten into a coma by him, that was almost 20 years ago. He now has a wife and children, and is quite a gentle person. Can you honestly say that he didn't recover? At least not enough to become an abusive prick himself? Thast's just one example and I really don't wish to air out my family problems. But even *hinting* at the fact that this person *couldn't* help himself is downright blasphemey!

Kudos to you for chosing to take care of a child that needs special/more attention and love than most people are capable to accept. But from the tone of your post it seems you are going to just let this child grow up to be an adult who does what they like, when they like, and you are going to excuse it because of their past childhood. Or at least that is how it seems to me by reading your words.

The man who kill the person in the OP did not get a just sentence. He should no be rehabilitated and I do not think he is capable of rehabiliation. Just look at his actions after the accident occured and the things he said in the news reports. Penitentiary comes from the word penance. They were created to order to allow people to pay for their crimes and become rehabilitated to fit in with normal society (so long as they chose to). There is nothing that I have read that shows me that this person would chose that.

pj7

The *reason* that this person is on drugs is not an issue. It doesn't matter if he had been kidnapped and tortured by Albert Fish, that fact remains that he chose to start doing the drugs in the first place. HE CHOSE! He had a choice, and took the wrong one. No one forced him to become an addict. No one forced him to dope up on meth and get drunk and drive. He made that choice for himself! And I'll be damned if I stand by and let my tax money and the government it supports waste it on taking care of these people that make wrong choices. The justice system is there to deal out justice. Not act as mother to grown adults.

dobber

Some people, such as your brother, have the strength, capacity and courage. Some find that certain someone who redefines their lives and lifts them out of it. And then there are those who are swallowed up by the horror.

Abusers are the monsters in the closet.

slowandsteady

I was referring to his mother who is not in jail yet killed two people and stabbed a third.

slowandsteady

Not if they are a sociopath. Again, not making excuses. Sociopath, abused, neglected, whatever, do the crime do the time. All I am saying is that there is no easy answer and some people(not all) are truly incapable of being better than a rabid skunk. Either way, they need to be locked up.

Tom Stormcrowe

Mary Ann, I agree it's not just. I don't even know how to define what is just for your loss. Please accept my sympathy and condolences. Any more justice will be Gods responsibility, I'm afraid, but it will happen.

funrover 

What a bunch of *#&#$*^*^#^%@!!!! I am sorry for your loss....... Words can't describe what I am currently thinking, I will pray for you.....