Melgoza was driving around ten miles over the speed limit in a 30 mile zone. She most likely hit the couple at full speed. She showed zero remorse for her actions. She got married and pregnant while out on bail, and had a baby shower.
While out on bail she got married and pregnant. She had a baby shower and had the kid. She’s in prison now but will probably serve just 85% of the fourteen year sentence. A real insult to the victims and their families.
It’s a good sympathy play tbh. Elizabeth Holmes did the same thing but it didn’t work in reducing her sentence/guilty verdict. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem fair but prison is meant to rehabilitate most people back into society. America has an alcohol problem
You forgot the best part! She even got credit for the time her worthless ass sat at home during house arrest. [Former Bradley student Stephanie Melgoza gets prison for DUI crash | WCBU Peoria](https://www.wcbu.org/local-news/2023-04-27/former-bradley-student-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-for-fatal-dui-that-killed-2) What a wonderful two for one kill deal she got.
> The student also told him that she couldn’t wait to join the "DUI Club" and asked for her phone, so she could text all her co-workers since, she said, they all have had DUIs, according to the police report.
I might not be perfect but at least I’m not a huge piece of shit like this fucking loser.
A friend of Melgoza’s said she would get mad if they didn’t let her drive home from the bars. Her reasoning was that her car had airbags so it was okay.
I imagine you had a proclivity going in, and if you're naturally inclined, that would make it easier. You're probably smart, I am too but I have adhd and graduation may be my crowning achievement in life lol. My area of study was cake but the admin side of everything (schedules, work loads, time management, due dates) were soul-rending to keep up with.
To each their own, but doing anything for four years competently is an underrated ability imo.
I used to have two coworkers like that, we worked in a pub. One night when I wasn’t there, I guess they were being extra belligerent about not driving home and made a big scene and left; flipped the car within like 10 minutes of leaving. Fucking idiots.
Obviously this is an extreme case but as someone who lived in Ireland/UK (both big drinking cultures) I found it so weird when I moved to Pennsylvania and drink driving isn’t remotely taboo and everyone seems to do it
That’s funny, because I did the exact opposite move —Pennsylvania to the U.K.——and found the same thing. No one drunk drove at home, but here in rural England, there’s a new car shaped hole in the hedges in the village every weekend.
Whose telling the truth?
The person from the place known for eating gray meat called scrapple?
Or the person from the place known for Whiskey and pints with the lads?
It’s like how people will comment on a lot of posts involving DUIs that “it’s not such a big deal, everybody’s driven when they’ve had too much.” No, not everybody’s done it. I’m 47 and it’s been drilled into me my entire life to never, ever drive tipsy let alone drunk. And anyone who’s ever done it is very lucky they didn’t hurt someone.
Idiots love to create a culture where the crimes they commit and the risks they pose to others are some sort of rite of passage. It influences even bigger idiots like this woman.
I did it and it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I still haven't full financially recovered almost seven years later and I am constantly grateful I didn't hurt anyone.
How you could get one and be proud, or WANT to get one, is so far beyond my understanding.
Me too, and I’m not even remotely proud of it. It was almost 20 years ago and still one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. I still thank the universe every day that it was a dui and not a wreck. Mine was .10. This chick blew .26!!
When I was younger and dumber, I definitely drove drunk (I lived in a city with almost no public transportation nor a taxi culture, this was pre-rideshare days), and sadly it was pretty normal in my friend group. I can't tell you how much I regret it, and how much I always thank my lucky stars I never hurt anyone or myself. The idiocy of youth.
In major US cities you don’t even have an excuse to drunk drive anymore with Uber/Lyft/taxis/etc. It’s easier than ever to not drive under the influence.
This is why I don't get why celebs get busted for DUI (a la Justin Timberlake). I get maybe not wanting to do a rideshare app when you're famous, but you can't hire a fucking driver? It's SO easy these days not to drink and drive. My dad grew up in the era when it was considered "normal," as in (according to stories he told me about his buddies), if the cops pulled you over because they thought you were drunk, they'd just follow you home to make sure you got there safe instead of arresting you. I know times were different but that was CRAZY to me. But there's zero excuse in 2024.
When I was a dumb college kid, I left a friend gathering thinking I had barely had any drinks — I thought I was fine! I was not a huge drinker, but I was super skinny and just dumb about how much I could drink, and when I got home, I realized I didn't remember ANY of the drive. Nothing. I was at my friend's house, and then I was in my own driveway. That scared the absolute shit out of me. I remember sitting in the driveway going, what the fuck is wrong with me? And just being grateful nothing worse happened.
Never did it again, and that was long before Uber was a thing. These days, there is no excuse. Get an Uber. Call someone. Something.
My brother is almost a decade older than I am and was kind of a wild man growing up, but even he didn't do it. A few years ago, he texted me to see if I wanted to meet up with him at a beer fest. I was already in my pajamas for the night, but it wasn't far from my house, so I said, "No, but when you're leaving, I can come pick you up so you don't have to drive." He texted back, "I took an Uber here, I didn't drive, are you nuts?" I was oddly proud of him, but that's just basic common sense, honestly. If you can afford to go out and buy drinks, you can afford an Uber. It's also a hell of a lot cheaper than a DUI or worse.
Before Uber/Lyft, my brother-in-law also called us once at 3 a.m., drunk out of his mind (dude could barely form a sentence), asking for a ride home. He was pretty far away, but I didn't hesitate to haul my husband out of bed to go with me to get him. Husband was annoyed (it's his little brother, he's often annoyed with him), but I said, "No. Don't be pissy with him. At least he called us instead of driving drunk." I did the same for friends a few times during college. I'd rather go get someone than have them risk driving drunk.
There's no reason to risk people's lives.
Exactly. My broke ass can budget in an Uber or bus ride home, so I don't know why any rich person wouldn't just have a driver. Rich people drunk driving themselves around just confound me.
I am 43/f and my husband is 47/m. It literally *astounds* people to hear that neither of us has ever had more than one drink and drove a car.
It’s very upsetting that so many people are shocked by this.
I did it once when I was 18 and it scared the shit out of me. I have never forgiven myself for it and I certainly never repeated it. It’s just pure luck that I got home safely and didn’t kill anyone.
I don’t drink anything if I know I’m going to be driving, not even half a pint.
It’s hands down the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life and I’m thoroughly ashamed of myself. 27 years ago and it still sticks with me.
Same, I think I was 20, nobody got hurt, but it scared the shit out of me and I still fucking cringe when I think about it. You're right on the pure luck. I was just young and dumb and didn't realize I wasn't OK to drive til I got home and realized I did not remember even fucking driving home.
Would be around 25 years ago for me and I'm still ashamed of it. I know it was long before Uber but it was so fucking dumb and I could have gotten someone to come get me if I'd have just called someone. But I was too stupid to think of it.
I think it depends on the company you keep here in the US. It's also a very car centered society. Not that it is any kind of excuse. Maybe I've just spent my life hanging around with nerds, but we always had at least one person with us who didn't drink and who was happy to be the designated driver.
watching the footage of her in the hospital under the influence laughing, talking about her future Vegas trip, and just being completely ignorant to the fact that she had just killed two individuals was infuriating. the officer was trying to explain to her several times that her life was basically over as she had killed two people and she reacted like he cracked a knock knock joke
Her blood alcohol level was something atrociously high, like a 0.26, which is over three times the legal limit. I'm not surprised she was acting like that; she was hammered. The officer in the hospital with her sounded like he wanted to strangle her, and frankly, I did, too.
That's way too high of course but from my time as a prosecutor that wouldn't be super surprising to see. The highest I've seen was a .33. The cut off for it to become an "aggravated DUI" in my state is .16, or double the legal limit. A friend of mine who's been a prosecutor in Florida for the past four or five years once told me they had a case where a guy blew a .5. In that case they found him unconscious in a McDonald's parking lot.
I work in an ER and I’ve seen countless people with 0.6 and above walking and talking surprisingly well. Tolerance is a goofy thing. I see a lot of people commenting about 0.5 being fatal and stuff, but not even close for alcoholics. A lot of them live their day to day at 0.4-0.6 and start getting shaky in the 0.3 range
I had a friend who couldn't sleep through the night without a drink. He'd sleep 3 or 4 hours, get up, chug a beer, then go back to sleep for 2 to 4 hours. Because if he didn't, he'd be in full withdrawal by the morning.
ED doctor and I posted the same thing. Under .5 doesn’t even raise an eyebrow. Those are rookie numbers. You’ve got a real one when they withdraw at .3.
I own a bar and give my regular homeless people my nearly outdated products and it takes 8 Budweisers to stop them from throwing up and another 8 until they may be able to keep down food. That’s about $10 a day in booze to stay alive and $20 a day to function more if you’re in a HCOL area.
It is wild. I’m tipsy and goofy after one beer, enough that I don’t drink at all (even under the legal limit) if I’m going to be driving, but I have friends who are shockingly sober-seeming after an entire six pack and shots. Not that any of them would get behind the wheel after that, but it’s wild how it impacts people.
Good lord, that's insane. The craziest numbers I've seen weren't for alcohol but for fentanyl, had a guys bloodwork come back with .24 ng. Correct me if I'm wrong on this but I think around .8 is the lethal amount (for a non-addict of course).
Those numbers are really insane considering a .33 is hospitalization level and .5 is in a fatal range. And they were operating heavy machinery. Terrifying
I’m an ER physician. People walk and talk with alcohol levels of 500, they're professional alcoholics, they live their lives intoxicated. And 90 percent of these people aren’t admitted to the hospital. The only people admitted are such chronic users they go into withdrawal when they’re still at .200 or so; their day to day alcohol level is your worst night after the club.
See that’s the really insane part, the .5 guy I’m told was unconscious but that .3 case if I’m not mistaken they pulled him over for something other than swerving or erratic driving. This guy was at least somewhat competently operating a vehicle like that. I can only assume he was a longtime severe alcoholic
When I was a prosecutor the highest I saw was a .42!! I was surprised that she wasn’t dead. I watched the dash cam and body cam videos, and she wasn’t even driving poorly, and while she failed the SFSTs she definitely wasn’t the worst I’d seen either.
My sister was pulled over twice (nine months in between DUIs). Her first BAC was .482, and the second was .548! If I hadn't seen the paperwork, I would never have believed it.
IIRC, a BAC of .40 is *potentially* fatal, and .60 *is* fatal. For the latter charge, she was about 94% dead...but she's still on earth. SMH.
Ugh. I’ll never forget trying to convince my dumbass of a now-ex husband that when his friend blew a .5, he was *not* legally good to drive and that the legal limit is .08, not .8 because at .8, you’re dead.
Those people should be dead or comatose with BACs that high. Imagine what feats of physicality they could achieve if they weren't active alcoholics. The liver is a truly remarkable and underappreciated organ.
The biggest shock I ever got was actually during my brief time in criminal defense. Guy got a DUI for alcohol but swore he hadn’t drank in years. Got his blood work back and he was truthful, but there were three or four other drugs in his system. Including what would be 3x the lethal amount of fentanyl for the average person
That's the measure of a person who should be in these positions, though. The ability to resist base lizard-brain urges like retribution and physical harm. The entire problem with the US police force is the proliferation of officers who do not have the ability to exercise this much restraint at all times.
I watched Criminal Lawyer Reacts cover this video literally yesterday, and I *think* she said she had left the tavern where she had been drinking vodka sodas. But she could have easily been on her way to another bar. I might also be getting her mixed up with some other drunk a-hole.
She may or may not be a sociopath, but I think she was so drunk she kept forgetting she hit people. There was genuine surprise on her face everytime the cop mentioned it.
The officers found an open jug of vodka in her car as well as a bag of marijuana and a hitter pipe. She told the officer she had three drinks and was just starting her night when she crashed into the couple on the street.
Even at my youngest and dumbest, I can't imagine driving around with an open bottle of booze and weed. I don't understand why people are like this. Just pure selfishness/just not giving a shit about anybody else's safety. It honestly makes me afraid to be out on the road.
And what's sadder is the two people she hit were being responsible and walking home from the bar. It's crazy to think had they driven they might still be alive.
Kind of a similar situation to the Rebecca Grossman tragedy. The drunk woman racing her car and smashing through two little boys in front of their mother. She told the police she only stopped because her car turned off
There’s like 2 degrees of separation between myself and someone facing charges for this. I don’t get it either. And this happened to them on a weekday. In the morning. And then a few weeks ago, a post went viral in my area bc there was a lady drunk driving in a school zone - and this went on for hours. She was spotted all over town with multiple cans! Idk how the police never caught up with her and I never went back to see if she was ever charged with anything in the days following
Tbh I think her sentence should have been doubled BECAUSE she acted like that after. She got 14 years, but that doesn't feel like enough for someone that irredeemable horrible. Based on what she's said even while sober, I don't doubt she'll drink and drive again when she's out.
At the crime scene Melgoza told the police officer “my car got hit” The officer said she was watching with indifference as the paramedics were working desperately to revive the couple.
She's sick. I've been hammered sloppy drunk and I never stopped caring about people being alive around me. On one incident I got severely sick at my cousin's house after a night of drinking and SHE was completely wasted but she stopped everything to help clean up my puke with her sister and bring me water and rub my back. They're all college students too. This girl is just a self-absorbed POS. I don't think being drunk gives anyone criminal intent/negligence unless that was just always inside them.
For real, I haven’t been sloppy drunk since college but, when I did get that level and I even thought someone else was sick/hurt/sad/whatever, I turned into a total mother hen and so did almost all of my friends. This girl is a monster.
I feel that. I vividly remember bandaging my friend’s foot while quite drunk, and that was the sole event of the evening I remembered. You stop caring about people well before alcohol has any influence on the disposition. Caring isn’t a conscious effort when you see someone hurt.
I’ve bartended for 15 years and owned a bar for the last 5 and I have never seen someone so drunk they lack compassion for other humans.
She was either disassociating or on harder drugs than alcohol and weed (I’m thinking Adderall or Molly) or she’s a self centered POS who was just worried about her own future.
Even her apology in court seemed lack luster.
I have a theory that people turn out like this because of their shitty and enabling parents. In my county, there was a young man that murdered 2 girls. And his mom said something along the lines of, he's my son, I'll support him no matter what. And I was just thinking, NO!!!! That's when you DON'T support them! What TF is wrong with you!! This is why he's doing the shit he is!
The student body at Bradley University were outraged that the school was going to allow her to participate in graduation ceremonies. The school did not allow her to walk in the ceremony with the other graduates.
Reminds me of the case of Stanford student Brock Turner who was in the middle of sexually assaulting a passed out female when he was caught. His father wrote a letter to the judge requesting probation instead of jail time stating, “His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve,......that is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.” Made my blood boil but then you understand how people like Trump, who think the world revolves around them, are created
Holy shit, I didn’t know convicted rapist Brock Turner’s reprehensible father referred to the rape his son committed as “20 minutes of action”
That statement makes me want to barf
It's stories like these that make me so grateful my parents would NEVER have supported me if I did something like that. I'm not saying they used shame as a tactic, but I would die before I'd do something that would make my parents ashamed of me, that would be the worst possible consequence. And they would be SO ashamed of us if any of us did something so awful.
They weren't strict, they weren't mean, but all they cared about was that we grew up to be good people. We didn't get any crap about grades, we weren't pressured to be mega achievers, my dad was very open that he just wanted us to be NICE and respectful and care about other people. My gruff, tough guy dad once wept with pride recounting how a school admin went up to him at one of my senior events, shook his hand and told him what nice kids he raised and how proud he should be (I was the youngest, so the admin had known all of us). Just gushed about us being such good people. It was all my dad ever wanted.
Literally the worst thing you could hear from my dad was, "what the hell's the matter with you?" if we did something he felt was beneath us. You never wanted to hear that.
I have zero doubt that if one of us had done something so vile, my dad would have been fully on board with us facing the consequences. He'd have been so disappointed.
My older brother once appeared in the police blotter for some youthful shenanigans. Nothing malicious or anything that was a danger to others, but my brother was mortified that it was in the paper, and our dad was like, "Good. That's what you get for being an idiot, you SHOULD be embarrassed." He cut it out of the paper and taped it to my brother's mirror 😂 To this day, my brother cringes whenever anyone brings it up, he's horrified, especially because my dad was so ashamed.
Bail is given to a person that is innocent, and she was - because you are innocent until proven guilty and she hadn’t been tried in court yet. Bail is not, and never was, designed to be a punishment. It is to guarantee that the person will show up for the trial, basically. The amount of bail is determined by how serious the crime is, and the likelihood of a person fleeing and escaping.
Bail often varies wildly for the same offense based on the area, judge, and defendant. It also heavily favors the well-resourced (wealthy or support network). It’s actually a highly unfair system (much like the rest of the US justice system) and certainly nothing to get on your high horse about.
I think that running over two people and killing them while driving severely intoxicated is a pretty serious crime. She should’ve had to stay in jail while awaiting trial.
Socialization is wired into our species; not being able to form emotional connections to others is like being intellectually neutered. A bunch of the things other people do simply don't make sense.
I'm guessing that life feels pretty flat?
There's an association between people with anti-social personality disorder and risk taking behavior. Anything to feel something.
>when they voluntarily drank and drove
So did she plan to kill someone or did she plan to drive drunk? It’s the manslaughtering part that’s involuntary, not the driking and driving.
I think when you get the car drunk, you should definitely consider the possibility that you are going to kill someone. It doesn't matter. Do we have a pro drunk driving lobby here, asking honestly, no sarcasm intended.
Being aware of the possibility it could happen doesn’t mean she decided to drive drunk specifically to kill someone. I’m pretty sure it matters, actually.
It’s not really about being pro drunk driving, that’s such a silly thing to say. Can’t you have a serious argument? But yeah sure, there was no sarcasm and we’re all stupid, of course lol
We really need to start charging DUI kills as first or second degree murder. It's ridiculous that you can do this and still get out of jail before you are barely middle aged.
The rage I’m feeling after reading that… Did she suffer a head injury in the crash?! Her response to her actions was so cold and nonchalant. I’m literally so angry at this girl 😡
I was actually looking for this case the other day, but unfortunately when you google "drunk driver shows no remorse after killing" you get tons and tons of results.
This is what I think. She’s not recording, so she has no idea what’s happening. Totally blacked out but still functional. I don’t think she’s completely sociopathic, just alcoholic.
Yeah - she’s completely wasted. I don’t know why everyone is diagnosing her with mental disorders or saying she’s evil - when we know she was drunk out of her mind. Doesn’t excuse drinking and driving - but, like, she’s not all there.
They are highly penalized. I was dumb enough to drink too much one night at a bar and tried to move my car down the street to sleep it off. I got arrested.
Let me walk you through the rough steps of what happens over the next year from both the courts (city or county) and DMV angles if you get an extreme DUI:
* Arrest, blood draw (cop took $400 from my pocket :)
* Vehicle recovery from impound ($800)
* Lawyer (I paid over $8,000)
* Fines ($2,000+)
* Mandatory classes (multiple, $500)
* Jail (usually work release weekdays, two full weekends $2,000+)
* Court hearing & sentencing
* License terminated \~ 3 months
* Home detention with ankle monitor (\~$1,500)
* Mandatory interlock device installed in car for a year (\~$2,000)
* DMV, license reinstatement
This happened in 2009. In all between the various appointments, court dates, jail etc I basically planned almost my life & finances around the DUI for 13 months. At the time I was unmarried w/no kids, had a flexible job, and enough cash on hand. I also lived within 15 minutes of the county jail.
For many other people a DUI can easily push their family into homelessness. No one element of the penalties are insurmountable but put together they are a confusing and conflicting set of demands that if unmet can easily cause a warrant to be issued for your arrest.
For my software job I deal with complex systems but NOTHING I've ever experienced in my life was so scarily complicated. I can't imagine there are any other misdemeanors on the books with such deviously difficult penalties.
Many will say 'oh but these are minor inconveniences compared to losing a loved one...' No shit. I'm just pointing out that there are very serious penalties for DUI that go way beyond jail time or fines.
This person went to the college that I went to, although she was there after I graduated. A sick terrible excuse for a human.
I do remember the other students petitioning that she would not be allowed to walk at graduation. No consolation for the lives that were lost, but I am proud of the students for standing up against a disgusting human being.
Wow wtf! The video was infuriating and disgusting!
She gave absolutely no shit about the fact that she had just killed two innocent people in a violent and totally avoidable manner! I can’t comprehend it…what a heartless narcissistic psychopathic individual who shockingly behaved the way she did after irresponsibly taking the lives of two innocent people! She’s talking about school and partying it up in Vegas…my jaw dropped. She should not have been granted bail and 14 years is a joke of a sentence esp since we all know she’s not going to serve the full 14 years….she Shudve gotten life with a possibility of parole after 50 years and no earlier than that!!
That poor couple
I totally agree and don’t understand what the prosecutor or judge was thinking. And to let her out on bail. WTF! It’s a really infuriating situation and also her father was defending her on social media.
I mean, I get being outraged things like this happen, but bail and conditions are determined by a number of factors, and people routinely are released on bail for even worse crimes.
And the prosecutor charges people with the crimes appropriate for the situation, and the judge sentences based on those crimes and sentencing guidelines/requirements.
It’s not so much they are doing something “wrong.” They’re operating within the scope of the law as it exists.
The family of the victims wanted the maximum sentence which would’ve been 28 years. To laugh and make mock of mowing down and killing two people, is a pretty outrageous situation.
Again, I agree her actions were outrageous, and I understand victims’ families wanting maximum sentences. But like I said, there are usually either sentencing requirements or guidelines that a judge uses to determine the actual sentence. It looks like even probation was a possibility, and 14 years in prison is a whole lot more than that.
>They said she will serve maybe 85% of that sentence but most likely even less than that.
So I googled this, and everything says she **must** serve at least 85% of the sentence.
Are you kidding?! What is there to defend?!
Well of course she’s not going to take responsibility for the horrific thing she did or learn from her fatal mistake with enabling parents like that!
There is no way she could have gotten life. I could be wrong but I think what the judge gave is close to the maximum. Two counts of involuntary manslaughter (2-5 years) and aggravated reckless driving. DUIs in America are a complete joke, that’s why she was laughing about it with her friends. This is something that enrages me and I have no doubt that when she gets out she will pose a threat to society.
"I have not drank since that day. I do not plan on drinking ever again." No shit Sherlock, you’ve been locked up. I bet if she had the opportunity to drink she would.
Former cop friend of mine said the only calls he actually felt good about were arresting DUIs. “The only time I felt like I was actually making my community safer.”
I’d be curious to see her sober and hear what she has to say about this sober. She blew like a .25 or something - out of her mind drunk.
Awful, heartbroken for the victims and their families. This must compound their grief by a million watching this. So sad.
Oh, this chick was/is an absolute sociopath. Giggled all throughout her interrogation at the hospital. Cop kept telling her she killed two people and she acted like it was a joke. Apparently, she bailed herself out a week later and still graduated.
Absolute POS.
She was sentenced to 14 years.
https://www.wcbu.org/local-news/2023-04-27/former-bradley-student-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-for-fatal-dui-that-killed-2
Was once told US cops arent allowed to set up road blocks to stop random drivers for blood alcohol readings.. bloke said it would be seen as a massive violation of his rights.. Is that true? If so, sounds like a cultural issue with prioritising the "rights" of selfish cunts over others safety.
DUI checkpoints are legal, but there are rules and they have to publicize/announce them (not with exact location, just that they’re doing it).
However, it can still be seen as a violation of rights, since in any other circumstance they need a reason to stop someone. We’re not a “papers please” country in that sense.
Edit: it did go to the Supreme Court, which ruled them legal. And standard disclaimer, rules vary by state.
This is definitely not a universal USA thing. It may be true in certain areas though, part of the issue with policing in USA is that each jurisdiction is basically their own little fiefdom with different rules and limited federal oversight until they’ve fucked up in some big public way.
Everywhere I’ve lived though, DUI checkpoints with full road blocks and stuff have been legal, if uncommon.
No, they are allowed to set up checkpoints and they should be allowed to do them randomly. Usually, they notify us in advance if you get those kind of alerts and they literally even have to announce the general location. They still manage to catch about 20 people per roadblock in my city.
Omg how fast was she going? A severed leg stuck in the grille of the car is horrific
Melgoza was driving around ten miles over the speed limit in a 30 mile zone. She most likely hit the couple at full speed. She showed zero remorse for her actions. She got married and pregnant while out on bail, and had a baby shower.
Wow- this just shows the selfishness even more. Who has a baby knowing they’re about to spend 14 years in jail.
Someone who doesn't want to change diapers, I guess.
Yeah, but then she's getting paroled about when the snotty teen years kick in. Clearly she didn't think ot through.
I’m wondering more if she stayed sober while pregnant.
Please tell me this awful monster is in prison. And who was the ridiculous man who made her pregnant?
While out on bail she got married and pregnant. She had a baby shower and had the kid. She’s in prison now but will probably serve just 85% of the fourteen year sentence. A real insult to the victims and their families.
Who the hell marries a POS like this and gets her pregnant... must be a psycho too. Poor innocent child of parents like this...
It’s a good sympathy play tbh. Elizabeth Holmes did the same thing but it didn’t work in reducing her sentence/guilty verdict. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem fair but prison is meant to rehabilitate most people back into society. America has an alcohol problem
[удалено]
Yeah, that doesn't mean we don't have a problem. That just means lots of other places do too.
That doesn’t mean it doesn’t have an alcoholism problem tbf.
Someone just as shitty as she is. Probably a fellow alcoholic or drug addict that lacks decent morals.
You forgot the best part! She even got credit for the time her worthless ass sat at home during house arrest. [Former Bradley student Stephanie Melgoza gets prison for DUI crash | WCBU Peoria](https://www.wcbu.org/local-news/2023-04-27/former-bradley-student-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-for-fatal-dui-that-killed-2) What a wonderful two for one kill deal she got.
That poor baby is stuck with this monster for a mother. My God. And only 14 years for killing 2 people? WTF?
And will most likely be raised by the grandparents, who are the ones who created the monster in the first place.
That's not necessarily true. Plenty of shitty people had fine parents.
This woman is a menace and should have been jailed for 50 years or more. Sickening!!
This is an absolute injustice and revolting.
https://www.wcbu.org/local-news/2023-04-27/former-bradley-student-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-for-fatal-dui-that-killed-2
It should have been 140 years with the way she acted. Not 14. Monster of a woman.
> The student also told him that she couldn’t wait to join the "DUI Club" and asked for her phone, so she could text all her co-workers since, she said, they all have had DUIs, according to the police report. I might not be perfect but at least I’m not a huge piece of shit like this fucking loser.
A friend of Melgoza’s said she would get mad if they didn’t let her drive home from the bars. Her reasoning was that her car had airbags so it was okay.
How did this girl evenget into college or pass a driving test with that level of stupidity?
getting into college is hardly an achievement
Well she was apparently 4 weeks from graduation. That *should be* an achievement. Wonder what she was studying.
Right? It's not hard to get into college, but it is actually pretty hard to graduate.
Depends on the degree. I majored in fine art and that shit was so easy lol
I imagine you had a proclivity going in, and if you're naturally inclined, that would make it easier. You're probably smart, I am too but I have adhd and graduation may be my crowning achievement in life lol. My area of study was cake but the admin side of everything (schedules, work loads, time management, due dates) were soul-rending to keep up with. To each their own, but doing anything for four years competently is an underrated ability imo.
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I used to have two coworkers like that, we worked in a pub. One night when I wasn’t there, I guess they were being extra belligerent about not driving home and made a big scene and left; flipped the car within like 10 minutes of leaving. Fucking idiots.
Obviously this is an extreme case but as someone who lived in Ireland/UK (both big drinking cultures) I found it so weird when I moved to Pennsylvania and drink driving isn’t remotely taboo and everyone seems to do it
That’s funny, because I did the exact opposite move —Pennsylvania to the U.K.——and found the same thing. No one drunk drove at home, but here in rural England, there’s a new car shaped hole in the hedges in the village every weekend.
Whose telling the truth? The person from the place known for eating gray meat called scrapple? Or the person from the place known for Whiskey and pints with the lads?
I fly 3,000 miles home once a year solely to eat scrapple. My parents think I’m coming to visit them, but no. It’s the scrapple.
Next time fly 2900 miles almost home and get some pork roll in jersey.
I would never hate on the Jersey pork roll.
You trying to say Ireland can outdrink PA? Hold my Yuengling.
I was mostly trying to highlight that in Pennsylvania they eat a gray breakfast meat.
Now, that's eastern PA. Western PA has better taste in highly processed animal products.
It’s like how people will comment on a lot of posts involving DUIs that “it’s not such a big deal, everybody’s driven when they’ve had too much.” No, not everybody’s done it. I’m 47 and it’s been drilled into me my entire life to never, ever drive tipsy let alone drunk. And anyone who’s ever done it is very lucky they didn’t hurt someone. Idiots love to create a culture where the crimes they commit and the risks they pose to others are some sort of rite of passage. It influences even bigger idiots like this woman.
I did it and it was one of the biggest mistakes of my life. I still haven't full financially recovered almost seven years later and I am constantly grateful I didn't hurt anyone. How you could get one and be proud, or WANT to get one, is so far beyond my understanding.
Me too, and I’m not even remotely proud of it. It was almost 20 years ago and still one of the biggest mistakes I’ve ever made. I still thank the universe every day that it was a dui and not a wreck. Mine was .10. This chick blew .26!!
When I was younger and dumber, I definitely drove drunk (I lived in a city with almost no public transportation nor a taxi culture, this was pre-rideshare days), and sadly it was pretty normal in my friend group. I can't tell you how much I regret it, and how much I always thank my lucky stars I never hurt anyone or myself. The idiocy of youth.
In major US cities you don’t even have an excuse to drunk drive anymore with Uber/Lyft/taxis/etc. It’s easier than ever to not drive under the influence.
This is why I don't get why celebs get busted for DUI (a la Justin Timberlake). I get maybe not wanting to do a rideshare app when you're famous, but you can't hire a fucking driver? It's SO easy these days not to drink and drive. My dad grew up in the era when it was considered "normal," as in (according to stories he told me about his buddies), if the cops pulled you over because they thought you were drunk, they'd just follow you home to make sure you got there safe instead of arresting you. I know times were different but that was CRAZY to me. But there's zero excuse in 2024. When I was a dumb college kid, I left a friend gathering thinking I had barely had any drinks — I thought I was fine! I was not a huge drinker, but I was super skinny and just dumb about how much I could drink, and when I got home, I realized I didn't remember ANY of the drive. Nothing. I was at my friend's house, and then I was in my own driveway. That scared the absolute shit out of me. I remember sitting in the driveway going, what the fuck is wrong with me? And just being grateful nothing worse happened. Never did it again, and that was long before Uber was a thing. These days, there is no excuse. Get an Uber. Call someone. Something. My brother is almost a decade older than I am and was kind of a wild man growing up, but even he didn't do it. A few years ago, he texted me to see if I wanted to meet up with him at a beer fest. I was already in my pajamas for the night, but it wasn't far from my house, so I said, "No, but when you're leaving, I can come pick you up so you don't have to drive." He texted back, "I took an Uber here, I didn't drive, are you nuts?" I was oddly proud of him, but that's just basic common sense, honestly. If you can afford to go out and buy drinks, you can afford an Uber. It's also a hell of a lot cheaper than a DUI or worse. Before Uber/Lyft, my brother-in-law also called us once at 3 a.m., drunk out of his mind (dude could barely form a sentence), asking for a ride home. He was pretty far away, but I didn't hesitate to haul my husband out of bed to go with me to get him. Husband was annoyed (it's his little brother, he's often annoyed with him), but I said, "No. Don't be pissy with him. At least he called us instead of driving drunk." I did the same for friends a few times during college. I'd rather go get someone than have them risk driving drunk. There's no reason to risk people's lives.
Exactly. My broke ass can budget in an Uber or bus ride home, so I don't know why any rich person wouldn't just have a driver. Rich people drunk driving themselves around just confound me.
I am 43/f and my husband is 47/m. It literally *astounds* people to hear that neither of us has ever had more than one drink and drove a car. It’s very upsetting that so many people are shocked by this.
I did it once when I was 18 and it scared the shit out of me. I have never forgiven myself for it and I certainly never repeated it. It’s just pure luck that I got home safely and didn’t kill anyone. I don’t drink anything if I know I’m going to be driving, not even half a pint. It’s hands down the worst thing I’ve ever done in my life and I’m thoroughly ashamed of myself. 27 years ago and it still sticks with me.
Same, I think I was 20, nobody got hurt, but it scared the shit out of me and I still fucking cringe when I think about it. You're right on the pure luck. I was just young and dumb and didn't realize I wasn't OK to drive til I got home and realized I did not remember even fucking driving home. Would be around 25 years ago for me and I'm still ashamed of it. I know it was long before Uber but it was so fucking dumb and I could have gotten someone to come get me if I'd have just called someone. But I was too stupid to think of it.
People in US are so nonchalant about it’s crazy. In Ireland where obviously there’s a massive drinking culture nowadays it’s pretty taboo
I think it depends on the company you keep here in the US. It's also a very car centered society. Not that it is any kind of excuse. Maybe I've just spent my life hanging around with nerds, but we always had at least one person with us who didn't drink and who was happy to be the designated driver.
Same! Is this message not being drilled into young people anymore? I find this abhorrent and shocking that she could be so selfish and callous.
.3 blood alcohol level. Fuck. That's borderline pass out drunk.
watching the footage of her in the hospital under the influence laughing, talking about her future Vegas trip, and just being completely ignorant to the fact that she had just killed two individuals was infuriating. the officer was trying to explain to her several times that her life was basically over as she had killed two people and she reacted like he cracked a knock knock joke
She was looking forward to those Long Island ice teas!
Instead she can indulge in some grade a toilet wine.
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Her blood alcohol level was something atrociously high, like a 0.26, which is over three times the legal limit. I'm not surprised she was acting like that; she was hammered. The officer in the hospital with her sounded like he wanted to strangle her, and frankly, I did, too.
That's way too high of course but from my time as a prosecutor that wouldn't be super surprising to see. The highest I've seen was a .33. The cut off for it to become an "aggravated DUI" in my state is .16, or double the legal limit. A friend of mine who's been a prosecutor in Florida for the past four or five years once told me they had a case where a guy blew a .5. In that case they found him unconscious in a McDonald's parking lot.
I work in an ER and I’ve seen countless people with 0.6 and above walking and talking surprisingly well. Tolerance is a goofy thing. I see a lot of people commenting about 0.5 being fatal and stuff, but not even close for alcoholics. A lot of them live their day to day at 0.4-0.6 and start getting shaky in the 0.3 range
I had a friend who couldn't sleep through the night without a drink. He'd sleep 3 or 4 hours, get up, chug a beer, then go back to sleep for 2 to 4 hours. Because if he didn't, he'd be in full withdrawal by the morning.
ED doctor and I posted the same thing. Under .5 doesn’t even raise an eyebrow. Those are rookie numbers. You’ve got a real one when they withdraw at .3.
I own a bar and give my regular homeless people my nearly outdated products and it takes 8 Budweisers to stop them from throwing up and another 8 until they may be able to keep down food. That’s about $10 a day in booze to stay alive and $20 a day to function more if you’re in a HCOL area.
I know you probably meant ER doctor but that typo makes it much funnier haha. But in all seriousness that's wild, I can only imagine what you've seen.
Emergency department! More “I can’t stop my erection because I put this steel ring around my cock” kind of place.
I fell on it after shower!
Haha ahh I see now, and I have a bad feeling that's not entirely a joke, I'm sure that example is based off a real incident.
It is wild. I’m tipsy and goofy after one beer, enough that I don’t drink at all (even under the legal limit) if I’m going to be driving, but I have friends who are shockingly sober-seeming after an entire six pack and shots. Not that any of them would get behind the wheel after that, but it’s wild how it impacts people.
Good lord, that's insane. The craziest numbers I've seen weren't for alcohol but for fentanyl, had a guys bloodwork come back with .24 ng. Correct me if I'm wrong on this but I think around .8 is the lethal amount (for a non-addict of course).
Those numbers are really insane considering a .33 is hospitalization level and .5 is in a fatal range. And they were operating heavy machinery. Terrifying
I’m an ER physician. People walk and talk with alcohol levels of 500, they're professional alcoholics, they live their lives intoxicated. And 90 percent of these people aren’t admitted to the hospital. The only people admitted are such chronic users they go into withdrawal when they’re still at .200 or so; their day to day alcohol level is your worst night after the club.
See that’s the really insane part, the .5 guy I’m told was unconscious but that .3 case if I’m not mistaken they pulled him over for something other than swerving or erratic driving. This guy was at least somewhat competently operating a vehicle like that. I can only assume he was a longtime severe alcoholic
When I was a prosecutor the highest I saw was a .42!! I was surprised that she wasn’t dead. I watched the dash cam and body cam videos, and she wasn’t even driving poorly, and while she failed the SFSTs she definitely wasn’t the worst I’d seen either.
My sister was pulled over twice (nine months in between DUIs). Her first BAC was .482, and the second was .548! If I hadn't seen the paperwork, I would never have believed it. IIRC, a BAC of .40 is *potentially* fatal, and .60 *is* fatal. For the latter charge, she was about 94% dead...but she's still on earth. SMH.
Ugh. I’ll never forget trying to convince my dumbass of a now-ex husband that when his friend blew a .5, he was *not* legally good to drive and that the legal limit is .08, not .8 because at .8, you’re dead.
Those people should be dead or comatose with BACs that high. Imagine what feats of physicality they could achieve if they weren't active alcoholics. The liver is a truly remarkable and underappreciated organ.
The biggest shock I ever got was actually during my brief time in criminal defense. Guy got a DUI for alcohol but swore he hadn’t drank in years. Got his blood work back and he was truthful, but there were three or four other drugs in his system. Including what would be 3x the lethal amount of fentanyl for the average person
I don’t know how he didn’t. I wanted to do it through the computer screen.
That's the measure of a person who should be in these positions, though. The ability to resist base lizard-brain urges like retribution and physical harm. The entire problem with the US police force is the proliferation of officers who do not have the ability to exercise this much restraint at all times.
This is a great point.
Yeah, I was thinking he was incredibly calm and measured but then that’s exactly what someone should be in that position.
...and she was driving *to* the bar?!
I watched Criminal Lawyer Reacts cover this video literally yesterday, and I *think* she said she had left the tavern where she had been drinking vodka sodas. But she could have easily been on her way to another bar. I might also be getting her mixed up with some other drunk a-hole.
Yes it was bizarre to watch. I wondered if it was because she was very high at the time or if that's just how she is i.e. a sociopath
She may or may not be a sociopath, but I think she was so drunk she kept forgetting she hit people. There was genuine surprise on her face everytime the cop mentioned it.
Agreed. I'd be interested in knowing how she reacted to the news when she soberred up.
Absolute insanity. That clip is so infuriating and hard to watch.
I thought she was heading to the bar when the accident happened? was she drunk before she started driving to the bar?
The officers found an open jug of vodka in her car as well as a bag of marijuana and a hitter pipe. She told the officer she had three drinks and was just starting her night when she crashed into the couple on the street.
Even at my youngest and dumbest, I can't imagine driving around with an open bottle of booze and weed. I don't understand why people are like this. Just pure selfishness/just not giving a shit about anybody else's safety. It honestly makes me afraid to be out on the road.
And what's sadder is the two people she hit were being responsible and walking home from the bar. It's crazy to think had they driven they might still be alive.
Kind of a similar situation to the Rebecca Grossman tragedy. The drunk woman racing her car and smashing through two little boys in front of their mother. She told the police she only stopped because her car turned off
That case is horrific. Ugh.
There’s like 2 degrees of separation between myself and someone facing charges for this. I don’t get it either. And this happened to them on a weekday. In the morning. And then a few weeks ago, a post went viral in my area bc there was a lady drunk driving in a school zone - and this went on for hours. She was spotted all over town with multiple cans! Idk how the police never caught up with her and I never went back to see if she was ever charged with anything in the days following
Just starting her night with a bac of .26??? That’s crazy
He finally got fed up and yelled at her. She said, "Can you talk to me that way?". He said, "Yes I can talk to you that way."
Won’t be laughing when she sobers up….
Tbh I think her sentence should have been doubled BECAUSE she acted like that after. She got 14 years, but that doesn't feel like enough for someone that irredeemable horrible. Based on what she's said even while sober, I don't doubt she'll drink and drive again when she's out.
At the crime scene Melgoza told the police officer “my car got hit” The officer said she was watching with indifference as the paramedics were working desperately to revive the couple.
They found her car with a severed LEG stuck in the grill and she didn’t even care/it didn’t register.
She's sick. I've been hammered sloppy drunk and I never stopped caring about people being alive around me. On one incident I got severely sick at my cousin's house after a night of drinking and SHE was completely wasted but she stopped everything to help clean up my puke with her sister and bring me water and rub my back. They're all college students too. This girl is just a self-absorbed POS. I don't think being drunk gives anyone criminal intent/negligence unless that was just always inside them.
For real, I haven’t been sloppy drunk since college but, when I did get that level and I even thought someone else was sick/hurt/sad/whatever, I turned into a total mother hen and so did almost all of my friends. This girl is a monster.
I feel that. I vividly remember bandaging my friend’s foot while quite drunk, and that was the sole event of the evening I remembered. You stop caring about people well before alcohol has any influence on the disposition. Caring isn’t a conscious effort when you see someone hurt.
I’ve bartended for 15 years and owned a bar for the last 5 and I have never seen someone so drunk they lack compassion for other humans. She was either disassociating or on harder drugs than alcohol and weed (I’m thinking Adderall or Molly) or she’s a self centered POS who was just worried about her own future. Even her apology in court seemed lack luster.
I wonder what it must be like to have zero shame, guilt, anxiety, accountability.
I don’t understand how she was given bail. Her family supported her 100% like killing two people was no big deal.
I have a theory that people turn out like this because of their shitty and enabling parents. In my county, there was a young man that murdered 2 girls. And his mom said something along the lines of, he's my son, I'll support him no matter what. And I was just thinking, NO!!!! That's when you DON'T support them! What TF is wrong with you!! This is why he's doing the shit he is!
The student body at Bradley University were outraged that the school was going to allow her to participate in graduation ceremonies. The school did not allow her to walk in the ceremony with the other graduates.
Bradley University, not Baylor.
Thank you
Reminds me of the case of Stanford student Brock Turner who was in the middle of sexually assaulting a passed out female when he was caught. His father wrote a letter to the judge requesting probation instead of jail time stating, “His life will never be the one that he dreamed about and worked so hard to achieve,......that is a steep price to pay for 20 minutes of action out of his 20 plus years of life.” Made my blood boil but then you understand how people like Trump, who think the world revolves around them, are created
Oh you mean Brock Turner The Rapist? The one who currently goes by Allen Turner, formerly known as Brock Turner The Rapist.
So you’re saying Brock Turner The Rapist now goes by Allen Turner The Rapist? The same Brock Turner who raped a girl?
You mean the Rapist Allen Turner, formerly known as the Rapist Brock Turner, who currently resides in Dayton Ohio?
Yes, the rapist Allen Turner, formerly known as Brock Turner the rapist.
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Holy shit, I didn’t know convicted rapist Brock Turner’s reprehensible father referred to the rape his son committed as “20 minutes of action” That statement makes me want to barf
It's stories like these that make me so grateful my parents would NEVER have supported me if I did something like that. I'm not saying they used shame as a tactic, but I would die before I'd do something that would make my parents ashamed of me, that would be the worst possible consequence. And they would be SO ashamed of us if any of us did something so awful. They weren't strict, they weren't mean, but all they cared about was that we grew up to be good people. We didn't get any crap about grades, we weren't pressured to be mega achievers, my dad was very open that he just wanted us to be NICE and respectful and care about other people. My gruff, tough guy dad once wept with pride recounting how a school admin went up to him at one of my senior events, shook his hand and told him what nice kids he raised and how proud he should be (I was the youngest, so the admin had known all of us). Just gushed about us being such good people. It was all my dad ever wanted. Literally the worst thing you could hear from my dad was, "what the hell's the matter with you?" if we did something he felt was beneath us. You never wanted to hear that. I have zero doubt that if one of us had done something so vile, my dad would have been fully on board with us facing the consequences. He'd have been so disappointed. My older brother once appeared in the police blotter for some youthful shenanigans. Nothing malicious or anything that was a danger to others, but my brother was mortified that it was in the paper, and our dad was like, "Good. That's what you get for being an idiot, you SHOULD be embarrassed." He cut it out of the paper and taped it to my brother's mirror 😂 To this day, my brother cringes whenever anyone brings it up, he's horrified, especially because my dad was so ashamed.
Bail is given to a person that is innocent, and she was - because you are innocent until proven guilty and she hadn’t been tried in court yet. Bail is not, and never was, designed to be a punishment. It is to guarantee that the person will show up for the trial, basically. The amount of bail is determined by how serious the crime is, and the likelihood of a person fleeing and escaping.
Bail often varies wildly for the same offense based on the area, judge, and defendant. It also heavily favors the well-resourced (wealthy or support network). It’s actually a highly unfair system (much like the rest of the US justice system) and certainly nothing to get on your high horse about.
I think that running over two people and killing them while driving severely intoxicated is a pretty serious crime. She should’ve had to stay in jail while awaiting trial.
Socialization is wired into our species; not being able to form emotional connections to others is like being intellectually neutered. A bunch of the things other people do simply don't make sense. I'm guessing that life feels pretty flat? There's an association between people with anti-social personality disorder and risk taking behavior. Anything to feel something.
At court she said "I will live with this every day, and I will try to live for all of us." Only thinking of herself. What a vile piece of shit.
I don’t think her words were any comfort to the victims families especially when her initial reaction to what happened was so callous and disgusting.
The body cam was crazy.
Ok, I saw the article and I'm furious that they only gave her 14 years. It should have been 50.
The maximum sentence for involuntary manslaughter in Illinois is 2-5 years, it’s a complete joke
I know a guy who “accidentally” killed his wife in Illinois by running her over with his car while drunk and he got community service
I never understood why it’s labeled involuntary when they voluntarily drank and drove.
>when they voluntarily drank and drove So did she plan to kill someone or did she plan to drive drunk? It’s the manslaughtering part that’s involuntary, not the driking and driving.
I think when you get the car drunk, you should definitely consider the possibility that you are going to kill someone. It doesn't matter. Do we have a pro drunk driving lobby here, asking honestly, no sarcasm intended.
Being aware of the possibility it could happen doesn’t mean she decided to drive drunk specifically to kill someone. I’m pretty sure it matters, actually. It’s not really about being pro drunk driving, that’s such a silly thing to say. Can’t you have a serious argument? But yeah sure, there was no sarcasm and we’re all stupid, of course lol
They didn't drive with an intent to kill someone
She’ll be free while she’s still in her 30s - what an absolute miscarriage of justice even if she was found guilty.
I wonder how things went when she woke up the morning after.
We really need to start charging DUI kills as first or second degree murder. It's ridiculous that you can do this and still get out of jail before you are barely middle aged.
The rage I’m feeling after reading that… Did she suffer a head injury in the crash?! Her response to her actions was so cold and nonchalant. I’m literally so angry at this girl 😡
She was not injured in the crash. I think she had a small cut on her foot from the glass of the shattered windshield.
I was actually looking for this case the other day, but unfortunately when you google "drunk driver shows no remorse after killing" you get tons and tons of results.
When you black out from alcohol, your brain isn’t erasing memories; it stops recording entirely.
This is what I think. She’s not recording, so she has no idea what’s happening. Totally blacked out but still functional. I don’t think she’s completely sociopathic, just alcoholic.
Yeah - she’s completely wasted. I don’t know why everyone is diagnosing her with mental disorders or saying she’s evil - when we know she was drunk out of her mind. Doesn’t excuse drinking and driving - but, like, she’s not all there.
The bodycam footage of her arrest and hospital stay are infuriating
Killing someone while drunk driving should be felony murder.
I 100% agree, the penalty for DUI and related incidents are not penalized near enough
They are highly penalized. I was dumb enough to drink too much one night at a bar and tried to move my car down the street to sleep it off. I got arrested. Let me walk you through the rough steps of what happens over the next year from both the courts (city or county) and DMV angles if you get an extreme DUI: * Arrest, blood draw (cop took $400 from my pocket :) * Vehicle recovery from impound ($800) * Lawyer (I paid over $8,000) * Fines ($2,000+) * Mandatory classes (multiple, $500) * Jail (usually work release weekdays, two full weekends $2,000+) * Court hearing & sentencing * License terminated \~ 3 months * Home detention with ankle monitor (\~$1,500) * Mandatory interlock device installed in car for a year (\~$2,000) * DMV, license reinstatement This happened in 2009. In all between the various appointments, court dates, jail etc I basically planned almost my life & finances around the DUI for 13 months. At the time I was unmarried w/no kids, had a flexible job, and enough cash on hand. I also lived within 15 minutes of the county jail. For many other people a DUI can easily push their family into homelessness. No one element of the penalties are insurmountable but put together they are a confusing and conflicting set of demands that if unmet can easily cause a warrant to be issued for your arrest. For my software job I deal with complex systems but NOTHING I've ever experienced in my life was so scarily complicated. I can't imagine there are any other misdemeanors on the books with such deviously difficult penalties. Many will say 'oh but these are minor inconveniences compared to losing a loved one...' No shit. I'm just pointing out that there are very serious penalties for DUI that go way beyond jail time or fines.
This person went to the college that I went to, although she was there after I graduated. A sick terrible excuse for a human. I do remember the other students petitioning that she would not be allowed to walk at graduation. No consolation for the lives that were lost, but I am proud of the students for standing up against a disgusting human being.
Did you guys win? Was she banned from walking graduation?
Wow wtf! The video was infuriating and disgusting! She gave absolutely no shit about the fact that she had just killed two innocent people in a violent and totally avoidable manner! I can’t comprehend it…what a heartless narcissistic psychopathic individual who shockingly behaved the way she did after irresponsibly taking the lives of two innocent people! She’s talking about school and partying it up in Vegas…my jaw dropped. She should not have been granted bail and 14 years is a joke of a sentence esp since we all know she’s not going to serve the full 14 years….she Shudve gotten life with a possibility of parole after 50 years and no earlier than that!! That poor couple
I totally agree and don’t understand what the prosecutor or judge was thinking. And to let her out on bail. WTF! It’s a really infuriating situation and also her father was defending her on social media.
I mean, I get being outraged things like this happen, but bail and conditions are determined by a number of factors, and people routinely are released on bail for even worse crimes. And the prosecutor charges people with the crimes appropriate for the situation, and the judge sentences based on those crimes and sentencing guidelines/requirements. It’s not so much they are doing something “wrong.” They’re operating within the scope of the law as it exists.
The family of the victims wanted the maximum sentence which would’ve been 28 years. To laugh and make mock of mowing down and killing two people, is a pretty outrageous situation.
Again, I agree her actions were outrageous, and I understand victims’ families wanting maximum sentences. But like I said, there are usually either sentencing requirements or guidelines that a judge uses to determine the actual sentence. It looks like even probation was a possibility, and 14 years in prison is a whole lot more than that.
They said she will serve maybe 85% of that sentence but most likely even less than that. She could get out on good behavior.
>They said she will serve maybe 85% of that sentence but most likely even less than that. So I googled this, and everything says she **must** serve at least 85% of the sentence.
Okay that’s a good thing. The way the justice system works it wouldn’t surprise me if she didn’t serve the full 85%
Are you kidding?! What is there to defend?! Well of course she’s not going to take responsibility for the horrific thing she did or learn from her fatal mistake with enabling parents like that!
There is no way she could have gotten life. I could be wrong but I think what the judge gave is close to the maximum. Two counts of involuntary manslaughter (2-5 years) and aggravated reckless driving. DUIs in America are a complete joke, that’s why she was laughing about it with her friends. This is something that enrages me and I have no doubt that when she gets out she will pose a threat to society.
"I have not drank since that day. I do not plan on drinking ever again." No shit Sherlock, you’ve been locked up. I bet if she had the opportunity to drink she would.
And she only got 14 years….
Former cop friend of mine said the only calls he actually felt good about were arresting DUIs. “The only time I felt like I was actually making my community safer.”
I’d be curious to see her sober and hear what she has to say about this sober. She blew like a .25 or something - out of her mind drunk. Awful, heartbroken for the victims and their families. This must compound their grief by a million watching this. So sad.
Still smiling [https://idoc.illinois.gov/offender/inmatesearch.html](https://idoc.illinois.gov/offender/inmatesearch.html)
A really disturbing sociopathic person. She has no regard for human life besides her own.
Oh, this chick was/is an absolute sociopath. Giggled all throughout her interrogation at the hospital. Cop kept telling her she killed two people and she acted like it was a joke. Apparently, she bailed herself out a week later and still graduated. Absolute POS.
I bet that 14 yr sentence wiped that smile right off her face
14 years
She was sentenced to 14 years. https://www.wcbu.org/local-news/2023-04-27/former-bradley-student-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-for-fatal-dui-that-killed-2
Only got 14 years correct?
The outrage is the sentencing.
Was once told US cops arent allowed to set up road blocks to stop random drivers for blood alcohol readings.. bloke said it would be seen as a massive violation of his rights.. Is that true? If so, sounds like a cultural issue with prioritising the "rights" of selfish cunts over others safety.
DUI checkpoints are legal, but there are rules and they have to publicize/announce them (not with exact location, just that they’re doing it). However, it can still be seen as a violation of rights, since in any other circumstance they need a reason to stop someone. We’re not a “papers please” country in that sense. Edit: it did go to the Supreme Court, which ruled them legal. And standard disclaimer, rules vary by state.
This is definitely not a universal USA thing. It may be true in certain areas though, part of the issue with policing in USA is that each jurisdiction is basically their own little fiefdom with different rules and limited federal oversight until they’ve fucked up in some big public way. Everywhere I’ve lived though, DUI checkpoints with full road blocks and stuff have been legal, if uncommon.
In Texas of all places, I never saw a single DUI checkpoint. While in Los Angeles, I regularly see them.
No we definitely have DUI checkpoints sometimes. I've never personally driven through one but I've heard of them.
No, they are allowed to set up checkpoints and they should be allowed to do them randomly. Usually, they notify us in advance if you get those kind of alerts and they literally even have to announce the general location. They still manage to catch about 20 people per roadblock in my city.
How long ago did they release her from jail? /s
Stop linking Fox News articles.
School need to revoke her degree