Robert Aragon Not Guilty

[OtakuLoki]

Of anything criminal for letting his kids out to walk 9 miles in the middle of winter in Idaho. And then not notifying anyone about what he'd done.

Here's the link.

I'm really sorry for making what's basically an RO post, but I can't imagine what the fuck this jury was thinking, even seeing the defense attorney's arguments. What in the Hell would it take for those fuckwads to convict someone of negligent homicide?

Drawing an equivalence between letting a child do gymnastics, and then letting them try to walk 9 miles in the dead of winter is so wrong-headed all I can do is fall back on a term from my Navy days: Gross Concept Error. :Shake:

[Exy]

I distinctly remember reading about this case. I don't understand this decision at all.

Even if we believe the father was just uncaring and stupid, and wasn't deliberately trying to kill his children, how can one justify not punishing him for this? The kind of person who would let his children wander 9 miles through a worsening snow storm and not even bother to alert their mother to their whereabouts is exactly the person who is not adequately "punished" by his children's deaths.

[Zuul]

That argument is really pathetic and makes me think the jury was either painfully stupid or else the prosecution was. The obvious and logical counter argument is that while we all take risks with our children every day, no parent in their right mind would subject their children to that level of risk.

[Hatshepsut]

I feel sick to my stomach reading that. I'm sorry, but letting your child eat fast food sometimes is not morally equivalent to letting them set out on a 9 mile - NINE MILE! - trek in bad weather, then not even bothering to check up on them. Why the hell didn't he keep them with him as he dug the car out of the snow?

[Cluricaun]

I'd expect that the children of Aragorn would be able to handle a simple 9 mile trek. Their dad was a Ranger for chrissakes.