Lying comes to mind. It was mentioned in the article that she admitted falling asleep behind the wheel. Most likely scenario, she hit the cylist, woke up, saw the cyclist, drove away, asked if she hit someone then lied about hitting a deer.

Read the links in the story, it just gets stranger.

It sounds like they were both traveling in the same direction when she hit him.

She got out of the car to look for the "deer" she said she hit but couldn't find it (evidently the poor cyclist and mangled bike were obstructing her view of the deer).

She called her husband to tell him she had hit a "deer" again so he wouldn't be mad (this happened before, how sick is she).

She drives to the store to buy cigarettes a few days later when the clerks asked her what happened due to the damage of the vehicle (I thought she had health concerns and she forgot about that whole license thing).

The clerks didn't believe the story due to the way she was acting and notified authorities (guilty conscience maybe).

A few hours later the authorities were at her door asking questions (oh crap, I need to make up a story, uh I have a medical condition and all these drugs make me loopy, blame the doctors who prescribed them to me, and the drug manufacturers who produce them, and the state on NC for not issuing me a drivers license, and that pesky deer I keep hitting).

A little over a year should cover everything (I'll take it).

I really hope you don't mean the part in bold. While that sort of thing was how "justice" was meted out in the time of Leviticus and Deuteronomy, where "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth" comes from, our law has evolved since then. Recognizing a distinction between a "guilty mind" and a "guilty act," modern laws don't allow killing people as punishment for mistakes; you have to intend to kill somebody. Obviously the woman was negligent, needs to be punished, etc. But let's not go crazy.

Well, that's a prediction, and it's either going to turn out to be true or false.

I have a bit of a different take onpunishment for this sort of act.

You could lock her away in a prison for a few years or longer even, and what does that do?

It is yet another bill on you and me, the tax payer. It doesn't bring the guy back and it does squat for his family.

I think that the family of the victim is the most important party here. I would like to see her have to forfeit every asset she has. Any equity in her home, sell it. Any 401K, gone. Any social security above the minimum, gone. I would also have her pay a very nice chunk of any assets she may aquire in the future. Basically, I would have her turned into an indentured servant to this family for the rest of her days. I would also impose a very lengthy public service sentence on her. Give her a push broom and five miles of some local road shoulder to keep clean for five years.

The above sentence would not cost the tax payer a dime, would provide maximum benefit to the family and be a much tougher sentence, imo, than locking her up for a few years.

Prisons should be a place for evil people who we need to keep away from society. The rest of the criminals should work for us rather than the other way around.

This sounds good...at first. So due to her medical conditions requiring numbing medications she drives again. How would society be safe from her in this situation?

If she didn't know what she did, why did she pull a U turn before fleeing?

A fellow is pending trial for a similar (he didn't drive away) killing of a bicyclist here in Jacksonville. His claim is that he "saw the bicyclist from afar..." and the next thing he knew was that he had hit him.

At least this woman will be off the roads for a year...This guy probably won't serve any time and will only pay minimal fees.

But still...When did killing someone with a car become a misdemeanor?

More information is here (it's my personal blog).

I'll be at the trial Wednesday (Sept 1) and will write more after.

I agree that her sentence was too short. However, giving her the death penalty is overkill. She was negligent in her actions which caused the man's death; she didn't jump in the car and plan to run down a cyclist (that we know of anyway). I'd have been happy with at least a felony conviction, 5 years in prison, 10 years probation, driving privileges revoked for life, right to own a car revoked for life and a settlement payment in the amount of the victim's family's choosing. If we could brand her on the forehead with "cyclist killer" I'd like that too.

A couple of thoughts:

We owe a lot to those clerks. If they hadn't been so inquisitive and if the woman hadn't been such a dumb-ass (ie. clean up her car, get rid of some of the damage to her vehicle, or even stay home for a few days) she would have been scot free.

What's the deal with birthdays and abandoning reason. No matter what my physical or physiological state, I'm going to go out a party! What ever happened to letting others come over and celebrate you.

There's a 'celebrity attorney' in Seattle going to heroic measures to keep her arrest out of public records:

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/htm...remner25m.html

main connection, she was arrested after a party for her bday.

I'm not sure that this is justice and I'm not necessarily for more jailtime (what would that accomplish), but how about a few thousand hours of community service?

Trekker Pete, I like your solution the best so far.