21 drinks = 38 years

[Tiger Wench]

I know, TL;DR, but I am venting.

This 25 year old chick from Spring, TX, a Houston burb, was sentenced today to 38 years in prison for vehicular manslaughter. She was out with friends and drank 17 shots and 4 beers in a five hour period. Then she got in her car and drove the wrong way on I-45 until she hit another car head on, killing two teens and seriously injuring a third. BAC three times the legal limit (which is .08 in TX) with drugs in her system. 

The prosecution used a video from the bar against her. The video showed every. single. drink. she took. The video also showed her staggering across the bar and out the door, across the parking lot and into her car, with all her friends just getting in their cars and driving off.

She was on trial, but this morning, after all the video yesterday, she changed her plea to guilty. She could have gotten as much as 60 years.

Her defense attorney pissed me off today too - his statement was that she got in trouble for something people do every day, that "a lot of people drink and drive". Maybe so, but not everyone drinks 21 fucking drinks and then kills two people, asshole.  The prosecutor was young but very passionate - he actually said "Choices have consequences, no matter how cute or pretty or young you are...". He was AWESOME.

The bar was not liable because she was in a large group. The bar policy is to limit the number of drinks they can serve to one person, and since she didn't buy all the drinks, they couldn't really judge how many she had, I guess.  I think it was pretty smart of the bar to have this level of protection for themselves that the video provided.

And as it turns out, one of the group with her was arrested today, after the prosecution and other testimony showed that he was responsible for buying her at least four shots after she was already drunk. 

I think about us at the X Gate - even as much as we all drink, there is no way that one of us would not step up and make sure the rest of us were ok to drive. What the hell were her friends thinking, letting her drink that much and then just drive away?  She was in a group of at least 12 people.  Not one of them cared enough?  I am NOT defending her - she is getting off easy in my mind - but at some point, she was too impaired to know she was that impaired, if that makes sense. I think that's why the second guy got arrested today.

What a clusterfuck. Four families with their lives ruined.

[Townhallsavoy]

She should have gotten longer than 38 years.  Fuck her and whatever life she thought she deserved. 

Reminds me of a story - Was eating a burger at The Keg at the beach, and this old guy was drinking alone and completely blitzed out of his mind.  He got up to leave and jiggled his keys and said, "I'm gonna kill somebody this drunk" while laughing.  I got up and tried to say that I would drive him home and he brushed me off.  This middle aged guy got up and got rough with him but the bartender told him to leave him alone because they "knew him" and that it was fine. 

He careened out of the parking lot kicking up dust and swerved into the other lane while flooring it down the road.  Don't know if he killed anybody.  But that was messed up.

Back to the story - While it's shitty that her group of friends failed to have a DD or failed to think of calling a cab, no one else wrecked and killed people.  They got away with it.  They shouldn't be arrested or sent to jail because the one girl messed up.  And restaurants/bars also shouldn't be held responsible for what people decide to do.  Maybe it would be nice for all bars to have a "three drinks and you must turn in your keys" policy, but people would get around that somehow anyway. 

[Tiger Wench]

She should have gotten longer than 38 years.  Fuck her and whatever life she thought she deserved. 

Back to the story - While it's shitty that her group of friends failed to have a DD or failed to think of calling a cab, no one else wrecked and killed people.  They got away with it.  They shouldn't be arrested or sent to jail because the one girl messed up.  And restaurants/bars also shouldn't be held responsible for what people decide to do.  Maybe it would be nice for all bars to have a "three drinks and you must turn in your keys" policy, but people would get around that somehow anyway.

There had to be more to the story that the news did not report, as to why the guy got arrested. They have not even released his name yet. But the report did say he was responsible for buying her drinks after she was obviously drunk. Don't know what law applies, but I'll update later if this pans out.

[Townhallsavoy]

There had to be more to the story that the news did not report, as to why the guy got arrested. They have not even released his name yet. But the report did say he was responsible for buying her drinks after she was obviously drunk. Don't know what law applies, but I'll update later if this pans out.

That's strange.  If I'm drunk and my wife buys me another shot and says, "Yeah babe get drunk tonight!" and then I trip and fall, is she liable? 

[Tiger Wench]

Here's the link to the video.

She might be liable if she lets you drive.  Again, the report was very limited about this guy - maybe it had to do with the drugs in her system. Maybe he gave them to her.

http://www.khou.com/video/featured-videos/Security-video-Woman-charged-217941161.html

[Vandy Vol]

There had to be more to the story that the news did not report, as to why the guy got arrested. They have not even released his name yet. But the report did say he was responsible for buying her drinks after she was obviously drunk. Don't know what law applies, but I'll update later if this pans out.

I'd be interested to know what law applies as well.  Dram shop laws can't be applied to individuals, so I'm assuming that Texas has a dram shop-like law for individuals, or the prosecutor got creative with applying some other law.  Or it has something to do with the drugs like you said.

[Godfather]

Maybe she had Floories in her system.

[Tiger Wench]

MONTGOMERY COUNTY -- New charges have been filed in the case of a young Spring woman who drove drunk the wrong way down I-45 killing two teens and seriously injuring a third last year.

They were filed against a bar patron who allegedly gave her several drinks that night. The charges came just hours before jurors sentenced Nicole Baukus to 38 years in prison.

“Wow -- we got some justice today,” said Fred Saunders, father to Travis Saunders killed in that wreck.
Baukus had changed her plea to “guilty” in the middle of the double manslaughter and assault trial.

Prosecutor Andrew James was clearly choked up after the sentence.

“Some of the nicest people I’ve ever met and this is an appropriate sentence for what she did,” James said.

The young assistant D.A. actually drove past the accident when it happened in June of 2012. Within hours, James learned Baukus herself had lost someone to an intoxicated driver.

“Her ex-boyfriend who was killed. Just blew my mind that someone who experienced what she experienced would go out and get as drunk as she did and do the same thing,” James said.

Security video from the bar On the Rox in Spring showed Baukus consuming 17 shots and four beers in five hours before she drove the wrong way down I-45 near the Woodlands, killing Nicole Adams, Travis Saunders and seriously injuring David Porras.

“Yeah my anger toward that defendant is genuine,” James said.

In a surprise move, Baukus took the stand herself during the punishment phase testifying she considered suicide.

“I don't deserve to be here. I should have died in that crash also,” Baukus said. “They did not deserve to die. I did. They were innocent."

T.A.B.C. agents had been trying to learn who had given Baukus several drinks that night. Through the trial, agents were able to figure out who that was.

“This morning an arrest warrant [was issued] for this individual for providing several of the drinks to Ms. Baukus that evening, and he will be facing criminal charges for his actions,” said T.A.B.C. agent Oscar Williams.

Only David Porras survived the wreck, but with permanent injuries. “We’re grateful David survived the accident but we remember Travis and Nicole Adams every day,” said David Porras’ father.

D.P.S Sergeant Angela Fountain was also at the trial. She had worked with Adams in an anti-drunk driving program. Teens were asked to write a letter as if they had been killed by a drunk driver.

Adams’ father found that letter four days after he buried her.

“He said, ‘after I read it I knew that my daughter knew I loved her,’” Fountain said. “It was amazing. It was a blessing. It gave him some peace and closure that he would never have had.”

Still no details on the actual charges, but obviously there was something.

[Kaos]

Still no details on the actual charges, but obviously there was something.

Having lived through a similar event many years ago, the lawyers sought to pin things on anyone they could. 

Criminally, I don't know.  I missed that phase of the situation while recovering.  But the lawyers hounded me for months to go after various individuals and entities connected to the drunken man who killed my wife, her sister, himself and nearly killed me.  His BAC was near .30.

I was encouraged to seek compensation from:

1) His mother, at whose house his drinking binge apparently began.  He'd had a couple of beers with her before heading out to meet friends to celebrate his freshly signed divorce.
2) His friends, who let him drive off from a pasture or somewhere they'd gathered to sit around and mix beer and bourbon.
3) The bar where he stopped to meet another friend for serving him more bourbon when he should have been visibly impaired.
4) The friend who allowed him to leave after their conversation turned sour.
5) The convenience store where he picked up the last six pack of his life 20 minutes before killing everybody.
6) His freshly divorced wife who remained the beneficiary of his life insurance and pocketed nearly a million while he had no auto insurance and no other policies to cover my bills.
7) My insurance company, which strung me along for months and then went bankrupt before paying a dime on my uninsured motorist policy. 
8) His employer who "should have been aware of his propensity for alcohol abuse and enrolled him in a program..."

The only one I sought anything from was the insurance company.  Took me several years and about half of what I was supposed to get in legal fees to recover it.  Should have tried to collect from the ex-wife but she lawyered up quickly, had no sympathy for the situation her ex caused and allowed me to spiral toward financial ruin while she churned through a series of brand new cars and expensive vacations. 

Again, don't know the criminal aspect but the civil lawsuits from this will extend as far as the families want them to.  If they're like me, they will probably let it go.  I didn't want any body's money.  I just didn't want to be ruined myself. If any of that cash would have brought my wife and sister-in-law back, yeah, I'd have tried to get it.  But what would I gain by suing his mom -- a woman who lost her son? 

[Tiger Wench]

We have a big crawfish boil every year (100+ adults plus kids) and there is a lot of alcohol flowing.  We do not provide any alcohol - it is strictly BYOB unless someone steals it out of my fridge. I have asked an attorney about my liability if someone DUI's after they leave my party.

I was told that under TX law I am not liable in any way - UNLESS... I approach them, say "You are drunk, give me your keys" and then don't follow through ("Fine then!  Leave!!).  If I know they are drunk and allow them to leave my property after I acknowledge their impairment, I can possibly be liable. It helps my case, however, that I do not provide the booze.

(Sidenote:  I maintain a very large umbrella policy over my homeowner's policy for this and other reasons. In this day and age, if you have parties, or have a pool, or a house with a staircase, or kids with friends that hang out at your house, or teenagers that drive - an umbrella policy is the best money you can spend all year for peace of mind. It's about $100 per year for the first $1M and about $70 for every million after that.  That's State Farm - YMMV)

So that may be how this guy is getting charged criminally. I am betting that not only did he know she was drunk, he bought her more drinks and then let her drive away. Criminal negligence resulting in bodily harm, maybe?

[Tiger Wench]

Guy is in his 20s but has a long rap sheet for drugs - possession and manufacture. He is currently in jail for those charges, but was obviously out of jail last year when all this happened.  This warrant is for the drinks he bought her. Still pretty vague.

UPDATE:

As an outgrowth of the trial, a warrant was issued Friday for Kambiz Michael Duran, 29, who is in the Harris County Jail after pleading guilty last month to possession of marijuana. On July 10, he was sentenced to 180 days in a state jail.

Harris County online records show that a hold from Montgomery County was placed on the Spring resident Friday, meaning that before Duran is freed, Montgomery County will have the opportunity to detain him.

Duran, a fellow bar patron, was seen on surveillance video giving Baukus a few drinks toward the end of the night, but authorities didn't know his identity, said Assistant District Attorney Warren Diepraam, co-prosecutor for the case.

"We could see him giving her drinks in the video but nobody would identify him," Diepraam said. "It was only during the trial when witnesses started testifying (that we learned his name)."

The same statute that makes it illegal to sell drinks to an intoxicated person also prohibits giving alcohol to someone who has already consumed too much, Diepraam explained.

On the Rox was cited for over-serving a customer and had its license suspended from Feb. 27 to March 28, according to the TABC. Since then, the bar's insurance company has agreed to a $1 million settlement for over-serving a patron.This is the very first time I have seen anything about the bar being held liable.

The money is to be divided among Porras and the estates of Adams and Saunders.

Oscar Williams, a Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agent based in Conroe, testified during the trial that Baukus drank 17 shots and four beers. Most of the shots were a mix of bourbon, Red Bull and either peach schnapps or watermelon schnapps, William said.

Baukus and Duran apparently ran into each other at the bar, rather than arriving together, Diepraam said. He said he didn't know if the two were acquainted previously.

[GH2001]

38 years is pretty much the rest of your life for most of the population. I sat on a jury two years ago in lee county on a 1st degree murder trial. We convicted the guy guilty and about a month later the judge sentenced him to 25 years. His crime was on purpose and done with premeditation. It was very obvious (told the guy he was going to kill him and went home and got a gun and came back to shoot him in the middle of the street with about 5 witnesses).

I know it's two different states but I've seen more malicious crimes get less than 38 years and I don't think any of the southern states are light with sentences like many of the north eastern states who give child molesters 6 months with probation.

We were talking about the lady in Bham that left the kid in the car a couple of weeks ago. Not malicious. But she was liable and it did result in a death. Does she deserve 38 years? I don't think so. Punishment, yes but not what amounts to a life sentence.

[Token]

In most all cases, 38 years is the fancy number they throw out to dazzle everyone. I'll be shocked if she does a day over 10.