Get the right tool for the job or 30 years in da pen

[Kuskokwim]

If he would have used a Harbor Freight Multifunction tool instead of a circular saw he wouldn't be facing 30 years:

or:

[The Daring Dufas]

Ya know, there was probably no malice intended, just rampant stupidity and ignorance. Should we criminalize every stupid accident? Perhaps to protect other people from the terminally stupid. ^_^

TDD

[Ed Pawlowski]

Dumb as this guy is, he should not be facing jail time. Should we jail everyone for being stupid? We could not build enough prisons.

This was not a case of intended abuse or maliciousness, it is just plain ignorance.

[Steve B]

>

Isn't that the common manner for cast removal in rural Appalachia?

Steve

[notbob]

Where does it say he's facing 30 yrs? That's kinda extreme for jes being stupid.

nb

[notbob]

Nor could we staff them.

I said stupidity, too, but you are closer to the truth. Right up till the time I had a plaster cast removed, I also thought those cutting tools were, in fact, a type of circular saw. Certainly looks like one. I even drew back when the med tech approached me. It wasn't till the med tech put his hand on the vibrating blade to show me it wasn't turning that I realized how that gizmo actually worked.

nb

[Larry Fishel]

I agree that that's quite possible but that's not how our system is "supposed" to work. He probably shouldn't get that much jail time unless there's evidence that there WAS malice. The son would probably be the only one who could answer this...and between having his hand nearly sawed off and the fact that it's his father, I wouldn't consider him a reliable witness for either side...

But note that the second article doesn't say he's facing 30 years, just that the crime he's accused of CAN be punished by UP TO 30 years...

[DerbyDad03]

What is the definition of "facing jail time" or more specifically "facing X years of jail time"?

Is X the specific time that you have been sentenced to and are currently waiting to serve or is X the amount of time you *could* get based on the offense you have committed?

I've always understood it to be the latter but have no specific reason (that I recall) for that understanding.

Therefore, based on my understanding, I'd say he was facing 30 years - but could be convinced otherwise.

[willshak]

"...up to 30 years in prison"

[mkirsch1]

If he was attacking his son, intending to cause injury, why target the cast and ONLY the cast? Even if the kid put up his cast hand to protect himself, there would be other injuries if it was a malicious attack.

[Steve B]

If he was attacking his son, intending to cause injury, why target the cast and ONLY the cast? Even if the kid put up his cast hand to protect himself, there would be other injuries if it was a malicious attack.

Question: Was it a crosscut, rip, masonry, metal-cutting, or plywood blade? I think a lot of intent could be deduced by stating those facts.

Steve

[Robert Green]

All we know is what some Florida reporter (IIRC) wrote. We would be lucky if they even got the name right. Maybe he's the guy who put the kid in a cast in the first place. We don't know.

But "intent" is essential to our legal system. I am betting that once he found out what it would cost him to have it removed by a doctor, his "intent" became to save $ and he decided he could do it on the cheap.

Without health insurance, surgical treatment of a broken arm typically costs $16,000 or more. For example, surgical treatment of a fracture of the humerus (upper arm bone) costs about $14,911, not including the surgeon fee, at Baptist Memorial Health Care in Memphis, Tennessee. According to the Minnesota Council of Health Plans, non-surgical treatment for a broken arm typically costs about $2,523. At some point in the "budget cutting" party we all need to have, we need to ask WTF is going on with medical fees? Am I the only one wondering why my bills say words to the effect (humor alert):

Non-discounted Cost / Actual Cost / Negotiated Cost / Blue Sky Cost / "X" adjustment / Don't Ask Fee (doubles if you ask them about it) / "Why" adjustment / Doctior Willing to accept this insulting discount amount because if he doesn't we'll blackball him.

You Pay What We Say:

Hell, I might have been tempted to at least Dremel the sucker off myself if it was a $400 job.

-- Bobby G.

[Robert Green]

One of the most vexing things victims of serious crimes discover is how little (if any) jail time their attackers will receive. Ask most victims of attempted murder what their attacker should receive and usually it's the death sentence or at least life in prison. The reality: Unless their attackers are habitual criminals, they may actually serve seven years or less, depending on the circumstances. The might even get probation. If everyone did their full time, we would probably not have enough prisons even if we converted all the Wal*Marts into jails overnight.

-- Bobby G.

[Steve B]

Well, with the HF, at least there was some chance of the victim not getting cut..............

Steve

[notbob]

My browser musta hidden that. I run noscript, which kills a lotta crap.

Regardless, this country is totally out of control! The patients are running the asylum.

I ran off an icy road and hit a tree. I was going about 7-8mph. I wasn't even shaken, but my 83 yr old mom had, unbeknownst to me, taken off her seat belt and ended up cracking her kneecap. I was sober as a judge and had superlative medical coverage. Yet, I discovered later, this "misdemeanor" carried a possible $5K fine and/or 18 mos in jail! ....fer and act fo god!! So, nothing surprises me, anymore. This country WANTS to put ppl in prison. It's a growth industry in the US and I'm not kidding. Putting you in jail is a commercial enterprise.

We are SO overdue.

nb

[The Daring Dufas]

I noticed the trend to criminalize accidents years ago. It seems that the powers to be at the time were hell bent on placing blame on anyone involved in an accident and making them pay by bringing criminal charges against that person. We can't just have accidents anymore no matter how unavoidable or tragic it is because it has become a blame game.

TDD

[notbob]

Revenue. Simple revenue generation. Take DUIs. What's that up to, now? $8-10K for the first offense. Fines, ongoing alcohol testing fees, drug abuse class fees, turn-your-life-around class fees, court costs, etc. Yet, notice how not only has the govt NOT done a single thing to discourage sales of alcohol, but now seems to be encouraging it. Hard liquor commercials back on TV for the first time in 40 yrs, our state allowing the sale of alcohol for the first time since we gained statehood. Hypocrisy? No, revenue.

We've got 264 private lock-ups in the US. They gotta be fed so profits can be made and palms greased:

We've alway believed any dictatorship or all powerful police state would be the result of some control-the-world despot or fanatical radical group. Nope. Good ol' democratic capitalism seems to be doing the job, jes fine.

nb

[Steve B]

Just to say, HF blades aren't always the sharpest in the toolbox.

Steve