Scooper

At this morning's arraignment, Chris Bucchere pleaded not guilty to felony vehicular manslaughter.

Bucchere is set to return to court April 30 for a pretrial conference. He is free on bail.

https://www.sfgate.com/default/articl...sh-4374604.php

Chris516

I didn't pour through all nine pages of the thread. But in the San Francisco Examiner, one witness claimed(not quoting) that the cyclist was going incredibly fast. Well, Unless he was actually speeding(25+mph on Castro St.), he would have not been breaking the law. I wonder if his lawyer will subpoena the records of the traffic signal, to definitively prove, whether he went through a red light or not.

dougmc

I imagine both sides absolutely will subpoena the records if they are available, and one side or the other absolutely will use what they find, and which side does depends on what it actually says.

Even a bad lawyer/prosecutor wouldn't at least look at such evidence and use it if it was advantageous to their case, and try to explain it away if not.

Scooper

Chris Bucchere pleads guilty to felony vehicular manslaughter in a plea agreement; will serve 1,000 hours of community service, but no jail time.

Cyclist pleads guilty in Castro crosswalk death

Sentencing will be August 16.

genec

So, uh, if a motorist had done this... wouldn't they just get away with "remorse?"

gpsblake

well, it will still have cost him $10,000s in legal fees, and probably facing a wrongful death lawsuit from the family.

mconlonx

This is outrageous!!! A road user killed a less protected road user and he only gets community service?!? Surely he should be locked up for many years, preferably more than 10, and lose his cycling privileges for life!

This is a total travesty of justice.

genec

What ever is done to the cyclist should also set an example for the DA and PD for any future deaths by driver. They should not treat this any more harsh than any motor vehicle driver.

Scooper

If Bucchere had gone to trial and lost, he could have been sentenced to as much as six years in prison; the community service sentence from the plea agreement is a slap on the wrist by comparison. Although by taking the plea deal he will be a convicted felon, it was a smart move.

CB HI

So for all the DA’s bravado, he really had a weak case on the cyclist and likely would not get a conviction. Maybe there was proof the cyclist entered the intersection on a yellow.

1,000 hours community service is about ten times the penalty many motorist end up with.

genec

Should have plead not guilty "I didn't see the ped" or "the ped swerved." Works for drivers of cars.

mconlonx

So fun: A&S full of poutrageous comments about how some road users need more punishment when sentences are meted out in either deals or convictions, yet here we have apologists leaping to the defense of self-admitted guilty killer of a less protected road user.

Right on, A&Sers!

spare_wheel

Nope. If he successfully completes community service and probation the felony will be removed from his record.

spare_wheel

i think the a-hole should rot in jail and i am a car-hating, vegan, anarchist, bike scofflaw.

dynaryder

Or maybe not:
"Also, Collins could reduce Bucchere's conviction to a misdemeanor after six months if he complies with terms of his sentence."

Haven't followed the case,but just going from that article,I think he should've gotten at least some jail time. While what he did wasn't malicious,he still was acting recklessly and caused someone's death. He's also lucky there wasn't a car involved,otherwise he prolly would've been the one who died.

CB HI

Or maybe you are so blinded by your disdain that you fail to understand that many posters here feel that both this cyclist and the motorist should get much heavier sentences.

Given the collapse of the DAs bravado in this case, you do really have to question if the DA had any evidence or if the defense had the evidence the cyclist entered the intersection on a yellow light. If the later is the case, a motorist would walk. Still, many here believe neither a motorist or a cyclist should hit a pedestrian in such a case, but you fail to understand that.

genec

BINGO. +1000

And that the treatment for such should be the same, for either motorist or cyclist.

Or the "excuse" should be the same.

squirtdad

it would be interesting to see what sentencing similar car on pedestrian incidents have generated.

this also seems consistent with the misdemeanor 500 hours penalty for the other cyclist in San Francisco who killed a pedestrian

From talking with DA's in the past, plea bargains do not always indicate a weak case. If they think they have a weak case the DA often will not file charges in the first place. Other considerations are cost as trials are expensive, priority of issue compared to others, and message sent.

The plea bargain admission of guilt means that the civil suit that is sure to be filed has minimal burdern of proof.....it is more about how much mondey will be paid to the victims family not if it will be paid.

Scooper

The way I read it, that is far from a sure thing.

unterhausen

Given the typical annual rate of fatalities in SF, there have been many instances of pedestrian fatalities since this incident. I suspect that cars crashing through a crowd of people are not that common, so it will probably be hard to find a similar incident.

gecho

That enormous gap in punishment is what makes plea deals seem so abusive. It essentially creates two justice systems, one for the wealth and one for everyone else. If you are rich enough the prosecutor knows you have the means to defend yourself and will not pursue charges without a solid case. So not only do you get off, it doesn't you much. But if you haven't got money to burn the prosecutor knows that even if the defendant wins it would be financially devastating, so they bring charges in a weaker case. After racking up tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees even before a trial begins they'll seriously consider a bit of community service.

cdonges

Plea deals ensure that justice is not done. Either an innocent person gets punished out of fear of more punishment or a guilty person gets less punishment than they deserve. Plea deals are an abomination and one of the two main things broken about the legal system.

alhedges

There is no enormous gap. Six years was the maximum sentence; as a first time offender he would not have received anything close to the maximum sentence. He could have received the exact same sentence he got in this case.

And I don't know where you get the financial angle - the vast vast majority of defendants in criminal cases have public defenders and don't pay anything for their legal representation. And those cases are pled out just as much as in any other case.

But the sentence in a case that goes to trial always provides perfect justice?

The prosecutors case didn't "collapse". The prosecutor had the same evidence that he always had, including Bucchere's message board posts and evidence that he ran the previous three red lights.

What changed is that the victim's family said that they didn't want Bucchere to do any jail time, and (of much less importance) Bucchere agreed to plead to a felony.

https://www.sfgate.com/default/articl...me-4682335.php

Scooper

Bucchere should be very grateful Hui's family didn't want him to do time.

CB HI

You and the DA keeps talking about the previous 3 lights as hard evidence but he has not put forward any hard evidence that the cyclist ran a red at the intersection of the collision.

With all the tough talk by the DA that he was going to hammer the cyclist, community service and the CA version of a deferred sentence is hardly a hammer.