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Double Standard : 11/20/2009

I really feel like there is a double standard here that should be obvious to anyone familiar with the other high profile drunk driving murder that captured our attention 2-3 years ago. The Montecito 20-something who callously ran down a prominent psychiatrist who was simply out for a walk. She then went to great lengths to cover up her criminal act even conspiring with her family to give herself a false alibi. Her father even tried t have the damaged vehicle repaired but police found the vehicle before the shop could start the work. Where is she now? Not serving 15 years to life I can promise you that.

M.Miller

Why the difference? : 11/20/2009

Heather Hulsey gets 6 years and 4 months then reduced to 8 months already served --Johnigan gets 15 years to life.
Is there are different standard if you kill a law enforcement officer?

citizen

bending of language : 11/20/2009

'murder' a word that has been hyjacked by do-gooder law enforcement.

lame

Agree with Double Standard : 11/20/2009

I agree - the woman who ran down Ronald Shlensky and left him on the side of the road to die, got away with murder. That was the most disgusting miscarriage of justice I've hever heard of. She was arrested for public intoxication while out partying in Isla Vista between killing him and the start of her trial. Then, she got knocked up between trial and sentencing and that served to be her "get out of jail free" pass. So, beware, people - she's back on the streets, but this time she's got a little kid in the car with her.
Ronald Shlensky was a fantastic person, and we all suffered a big loss the day he died too.

: 11/20/2009

What she did was wrong, but 15 years is way too long. It was a horrible mistake that she made. She really is being punished for who she did it to, not what she did.

SB Me

Screw the System : 11/20/2009

Why the hell should she get harsher sentencing because of who she ran into? Screw the system that is built around government bureaucrats. The sentence should be the same regardless of who was in the other car. I'll bet that DA ruined a lot of peoples' lives too. I guess she is still doing the same from the grave.

Duh

Judge Ochoa is the problem : 11/20/2009

You make a good point about Hulsey - she should have gotten many, many years in prison. The reason she didn't is because of Judge Ochoa. He decided to give her nothing for murder. He is the same judge who just gave Peter Jeschke, the tennis coach who gave drugs to his tennis students and had sex with them, one year when Jeschke was convicted of several counts of having sex with his students - the Probation Department was recommending 7 years and Jeschke had an exposure of 10 years but Judge Ochoa gave Jeschke nothing. I am not saying that Jeschke's crimes were as bad as the woman who killed the DA Investigator or Hulsey - I am just explaining why there is such a disparity in punishment ... it is the judge. Seems to me that Judge Ochoa should be elected out of office next time he runs if he is going to let murderers and molestors go with nothing ... If Hulsey or Jeschke had had Rigali for a judge they would be in prison right now.

Harsh sentence, waste of money : 11/20/2009

http://www.lao.ca.gov/laoapp/laomenus/sections/crim_justice/6_cj_inmatecost.aspx?catid=3
According to the above site, it costs over $47,100/yr to keep an inmate in a California prison. With good behavior Johnigan might spend 2/3rds of her 15 year sentence, but that is still almost half a million dollars of taxpayers' money to "teach her a lesson". Is it worth it? Wouldn't the money be better spent to prevent drunk driving by others? Is 15 years necessary? How would you feel if you were sentenced to 15/24ths = 63% of the time you have been alive, for one stupid mistake? Is that harsh? Would it that take you that long to regret one night of drunken stupidity? Criminal sentences should be based on INTENT, not OUTCOME.

Craig Porter

Consequences of Actions : 11/20/2009

I disagree with the majority of posters here. Johnigan repeatedly got drunk, showed poor judgement, and took no responsibility for the results of her actions. She killed someone because she chose to get drunk and drive. Her defense was an insult. She got a just sentence.
(That said, Ochoa is a crappy judge who sentences irrationally and too emotionally (he's too liberal). The woman who murdered the physician with her car should have gone to jail for a long time too -- her Dad too -- not been rewarded for getting pregnant.)

Zero tolerance for drunk driving

JUSTICE WAS SERVED : 11/20/2009

I was there the night Ashley was at the Maverick. She was making a fool out of herself and tricked her way out of getting home safely. She was also quite rude and disrespectful in general. Not to mention, she was convicted of a felony a few years back for fraud, passing big, bad checks. Her demeanor early on in her arraignment and subsequent court hearings displayed a smug, nonchalant person, often smiling and appearing completely disengaged. To me, it doesn't matter if it was a cop that died. Double standards don't play a part. Nor does any verdict in any other jurisdiction for the same crime matter. Every case is different. She got what she deserved and may she be an example. Many of your opinions and comments seem to be profoundly misguided. Yesterday, justice was rightly served.

McClaren Davies

: 11/21/2009

i hope she rots you people make me sick maybe a family member of yours will be murdered then we will see how you feel

Agree with Double Standard : 11/21/2009

To the previous poster - In comparing this case to the Shlensky case, I "Agree with Double Standard", was not insinuating that Johnigan's sentence was too steep, but rather that Hulsey's was far to mild. They were two similar crimes - both resulting in the death of an innocent person. Some (I) would agrue that Hulsey's actions after the fact made her crime even more heinous than Johnigan's, and yet she is out free. My question, or outrage, is "Why the difference?" and I think that another poster made a good point (in referencing the Jeschke case) - it's the judge. All of these people were found guilty, however the ones Ochoa sentenced basically get to walk, offering not only no deterent to future drunk drivers and child molesters, but creating a huge divide in sentnecing in the county.
My heart goes out to all the families involved - at least the family of the DA got some justice - I don't believe that the Shlensky family did, and I also don't believe that his murderer is done drinking and driving. Mark my words - we'll see her name in the headlines again.

M

Explanation : 11/21/2009

I agree about the disparity of sentence. I wish someone with expertise in this field might find the time do explain why this exists in these specific crimes. Perhaps there is more to it than we know or maybe our justice system is arbitrary, capricious and erratic. Certainly I hope the former is true.

SV

difference? : 11/21/2009

In the next year we will have at least a couple of more drunken driver murder cases to resolve. It will be interesting to see if the DA office prosecutes these cases as vigorously as they did for the murder of Cleaves, one of their own.

SB Citizen

SB Citizen : 11/21/2009

Perhaps you missed the portion of the articles which explained that the DA did not prosecute the case because it would be a conflict of interest for them to do so. Not mentioned in the articles was the fact that the California Attorney General who prosecuted the case was not allowed to make the decision as to which charges should be filed. That task was undertaken by a committee of Attorneys General in Sacramento. The local authorities were "walled off" from any participation because the victim was known by many law enforcement officers in SB county. The CHP investigators were from San Luis Obispo, the lab work was done in Ventura county. Attorney General Mike Keller is based in Los Angeles. No one in the AG's office was allowed to speak to a member of the DA's office and vice versa. This practice has been in place for decades to ensure that no conflict of interest exists. I agree that McDermott and Pike were given a slap on the hand for a heinous act, but please don't cheapen the life of a beloved mother, wife and friend because of the actions of those who had nothing to do with the Johnigan case.

Chere Rabbe

bending the language : 11/21/2009

'Murder' is of what 12 jurors, not law enforcement, found Johnigan guilty. They could have found her not guilty of murder and guilty of the lesser crime of Vehicular Manslaughter but all 12 of them believed her conduct was so aggravated it rose to the level of a murder. Here, the 'do-gooders' are 12 citizens. You might agree with them if you read the trial transcript. You might not, but you would probably understand how they reached their conclusion.

Paul James

Harsh sentence : 11/21/2009

If your plan to punish intent rather than outcome were enacted, then persons who are convicted of an attempted murder would be punished the same as one who actually killed someone. The law of implied malice includes an act so reckless it is likely to result in a death in the scope of a second degree murder. In the Johnigan case, the evidence at trial included several neighbors who testified that while she was stumbling drunk she drove her infant daughter several times, that she was warned by her friends not to drink and drive, that she refused offers of a ride home from friends so she could remain in the bar and drink after they left, refused an offer of a cab ride because it was 'too expensive', wrestled with the Maverick personnel for her car keys after falling down, and promised not to drive, then took off in the car. She had a 2 liter bottle of vodka and Sierra Mist, 3/4 empty, had several drinks (doubles) and when she was cut off, continued to drink her friends' drinks and had a .24 blood alcohol content. The jury concluded she set out to become highly intoxicated without making any arrangements for a ride home. That seems to fall within the definition of reckless as California law permits.

Greg Joseph

Double Standard : 11/22/2009

I absolutely agree with the poster who said, "we will see Heather Hulsey in the headlines again." And when she does show up in the headlines, I hope Judge Ochoa is still on the bench so he can experience the public outcry. My heart goes out to the Schlensky family who got no justice at all out of this process.

M.Miller

Double Standard : 11/22/2009

And to the poster who says Judge Ochoa is TOO LIBERAL, being a liberal is not the same as having bad judgement. The decision to allow Heather Hulsey to go free after time served was, in my opinion, incredibly bad judgement. I promise you, there are plenty of "liberal" judges and liberals in general who would have imposed a much more severe sentence.

M.Miller

Sentencing : 11/23/2009

Dudes, the jury convicted Johnigan of 2nd degree MURDER! The punishment is 15-to-life. Look it up, it's all there. I don't believe the judge had many sentencing options. In Hulsey's case, our system convicted her of what it was able to (hit and run.) Hulsey skated because she wasn't caught when there was (presumably) alcohol in her system, and no witnesses saw her (possibly) driving reckless into Shlensky. Johnigan was driving reckless at high speed into oncoming traffic. Yeah, there were some similarities between the two cases, but many differences too. Let's be consistent: How do you-all feel about a run-of-the-mill drunk driver arrested by the cops? If they don't kill anyone then no big deal??

Look it up

Agree with Double Standard : 11/23/2009

Hey "Look It Up" - it's you who should look things up. Hulsey wasn't convicted - she plead no contest (that's the same as "guilty") to hit and run and vehicular manslaughter while DUI. Those are felonies. And the judge in Johnigan's case had 2 options (look that one up yourself) in sentencing. The two choices were at either sides of the spectrum - he chose the stiffer penalty (and I believe he was correct). The Hulsey sentencing was a miscarriage of justice that is just highlighted even more when juxtiposed with the Johnigan sentencing.
Daily Sound December 2007 "After more than a year of court proceedings, Heather Lea Hulsey avoided a jury trial yesterday by pleading no contest in Superior Court to two felony charges in connection with the July 28, 2006 hit-and-run death of Dr. Ronald Shlensky.
Of the eight charges filed against Hulsey by the Santa Barbara County District Attorney’s Office, Hulsey admitted to vehicular manslaughter while driving under the influence of alcohol without gross negligence and to fleeing the scene of an accident knowing that a person was injured."

M

Agree with Double Standard : 11/23/2009

Independent Nov 23 2009
"Rigali had to choose between sentencing Johnigan to either one year in county jail, or 15-years-to-life in prison. These were not ideal options, he said, but he had no say in the charges filed by the prosecution or the strategies used by the defense.'

M

Spend the money : 11/24/2009

To the poster who wanted to let Johnigan go because it would be too expensive to house her in jail - Applying that logic we would have no prisons at all and let everyone go because that would be cheaper than having prisons and houseing the prisoners. This is completely illogical. Money can't be the deciding factor in applying punishment for something like murder.

Breathalizers : 11/27/2009

All cars should be equipped with breathalizers- it may be inconvenient but it would be preventative. Unfortunately it would prevent alcohol sales and that's probably why there is no movement on an obvious solution.

Mesa Dan

Maybe the cities should help? : 11/28/2009

Perhaps cities like Santa Barbara should come up with a way for poeple to get home safely. Santa Barbara commerce past 10 pm is almost exclusively bars, and the town practically begs poeple to come down town and drink. There is no bus system that runs beyond 10 or 11 pm, perhaps they could extend the hours thursday thru Saturday night. I know that cabs are available, but cabs arn't cheap. If someone lives in Carpinteria or Goleta the fair can run you up to fifty dollars. If anyone else has alternative ideas please feel free to post them. The city really does need to be responsible when inviting people to drink at a location that most people need to drive to get there.

SB Me