First off, this new format is going to give me a siezure or something.....could it please go back to the old style ?
anyways, remember the nail painting lady in Illinois who struck a biker wearing a bright yellow jacket at the stop light, throwing her like 50 feet.....she was found guilty
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/distracted.driving.nail.2.1680019.html
The eight-woman, four-man jury deliberated for three-and-a-half hours before
finding Lora Hunt guilty of a reckless homicide charge that could send her to prison for up to five years.
Hunt, 48, of Morris, was charged after her car slammed into and killed motorcyclist Anita Zaffke on May 2, 2009, at an intersection near Lake Zurich.
"There are no winners today, there is no celebration or happiness," Greg Zaffke, the victim's son, said at the Lake County courthouse. "Two families will forever carry the hurt and anguish caused by one person's reckless actions behind the wheel."
Authorities contended Morris was too busy painting her fingernails to notice
that Zaffke had stopped ahead of her as a traffic signal changed at Route 12
and Old McHenry Road.
But Hunt testified she had stopped painting her nails as she approached the
traffic light.
Hunt, a nurse, insisted she was watching the light when she struck and killed Zaffke, whom she said she didn't see until after the crash.
Prosecutor Michael Mermel disputed Hunt's claims that she had stopped applying the nail polish before the crash, contending she didn't notice Zaffke stopping ahead of her because she was still working on her nails even as she reached the intersection.
"She was applying the polish even as she crashed," Mermel argued.
Her attorney acknowledged Hunt was "distracted" as she approached the
intersection, but argued she should be acquitted because she was not driving
recklessly when she struck Zaffke.
"This is an accident," defense attorney Jeff Tomczak told the jury in his closing argument. "This is a case of a distracted driver who didn't want to hurt anybody."
After the verdict, Tomczak said he hopes the judge will be lenient when his client is sentenced.
"I have not had a client in 25 years that has showed more remorse, more grief, more sympathy for the victim's family than Lora Hunt," he said. "She is being made an example of, and if you know her, that's kind of sad cause because this is truly a loving, caring, just a wonderful lady."
Zaffke's son continues to weear black nail polish on one hand as a symbol of his mother's death. He said that as a motorcycle rider himself he is hypervigilant about drivers who are texting or talking on cell phones while they should be watching the road.
"It is irritating, for sure," he said.
Hunt will remain free on bond until she is sentenced. No date for that sentencing has been set. She could get as much as five years in prison, or as little as probation.
anyways, remember the nail painting lady in Illinois who struck a biker wearing a bright yellow jacket at the stop light, throwing her like 50 feet.....she was found guilty
http://cbs2chicago.com/local/distracted.driving.nail.2.1680019.html
The eight-woman, four-man jury deliberated for three-and-a-half hours before
finding Lora Hunt guilty of a reckless homicide charge that could send her to prison for up to five years.
Hunt, 48, of Morris, was charged after her car slammed into and killed motorcyclist Anita Zaffke on May 2, 2009, at an intersection near Lake Zurich.
"There are no winners today, there is no celebration or happiness," Greg Zaffke, the victim's son, said at the Lake County courthouse. "Two families will forever carry the hurt and anguish caused by one person's reckless actions behind the wheel."
Authorities contended Morris was too busy painting her fingernails to notice
that Zaffke had stopped ahead of her as a traffic signal changed at Route 12
and Old McHenry Road.
But Hunt testified she had stopped painting her nails as she approached the
traffic light.
Hunt, a nurse, insisted she was watching the light when she struck and killed Zaffke, whom she said she didn't see until after the crash.
Prosecutor Michael Mermel disputed Hunt's claims that she had stopped applying the nail polish before the crash, contending she didn't notice Zaffke stopping ahead of her because she was still working on her nails even as she reached the intersection.
"She was applying the polish even as she crashed," Mermel argued.
Her attorney acknowledged Hunt was "distracted" as she approached the
intersection, but argued she should be acquitted because she was not driving
recklessly when she struck Zaffke.
"This is an accident," defense attorney Jeff Tomczak told the jury in his closing argument. "This is a case of a distracted driver who didn't want to hurt anybody."
After the verdict, Tomczak said he hopes the judge will be lenient when his client is sentenced.
"I have not had a client in 25 years that has showed more remorse, more grief, more sympathy for the victim's family than Lora Hunt," he said. "She is being made an example of, and if you know her, that's kind of sad cause because this is truly a loving, caring, just a wonderful lady."
Zaffke's son continues to weear black nail polish on one hand as a symbol of his mother's death. He said that as a motorcycle rider himself he is hypervigilant about drivers who are texting or talking on cell phones while they should be watching the road.
"It is irritating, for sure," he said.
Hunt will remain free on bond until she is sentenced. No date for that sentencing has been set. She could get as much as five years in prison, or as little as probation.
