courtesy of ‘Helernn’
WaPo reports that a deal has been made in the Bristow case of a mother initially charged with felony murder after leaving her almost three-year-old child in a car. She’ll serve probation for two years and perform community service in exchange for her plea to two counts of child neglect.
I mentioned this when the charges were filed last year and I’ll mention it again: if you have a firm opinion on this and haven’t read Gene Weingarten’s piece about the phenomenon, Fatal Distraction, you’re almost certainly insufficiently informed to have that opinion.
This plea deal feels a lot closer to what seems right than murder, though it’s hard for me to know in my heart whether anything is the right thing to do. Does society need this woman herself to suffer more than she already is? Does the punishment provide any deterrent to others? Can we fight distraction and sleep deprivation mistakes with fear of justice system reprisal?
Well I used to say something in my profile about not quite being a “tinker, tailor, soldier, or spy” but Tom stole that for our about us page, so I guess I’ll have to find another way to express that I am a man of many interests.
Hmm, guess I just did.
My tastes run the gamut from sophomoric to Shakespeare and in my “professional” life I’ve sold things, served beer, written software, and carried heavy objects… sometimes at the same place. It’s that range of loves and activities that makes it so easy for me to love DC – we’ve got it all.
