I agree it's not Manslaughter. But for the benefit of all those who think it's fun to street race...if his friend dies, it IS called MOTOR VEHICLE HOMICIDE. At least under my state law (and I suspect it's similar in most other states. In legal terms it's no different than if you were drunk on your ass, ran a stop sign and killed your buddy sitting next to you.

No, I'm not a lawyer. In some eyes I'm maybe one notch lower. But if the proximate cause of another's death, is the unlawful operation of a motor vehicle, MVH would be filed. Engaging in a contest of speed or acceleration qualifies as the unlawful operation/act and I could probably find case-law stemming from similar facts if I was at my office. I'm assuming there are witnesses, there usually are in dramatic catastrphic accident scenes. Perhaps even a passenger in the buddy's car, maybe even the poster himself. In any event it is a FELONY and would not look good on a resume'.

And since nobody takes responsibility for what they do, it also opens the doors for a civil suit by his buddy or next of kin, which is probably the real motivation to find that other car.

Jim,



I understand the case. But as I stated earlier, as of now, its the word of the corvette owner vs. unknown Mazda driver. If the Mazda owner did nothing but speed and did not realize the idiot vette driver was following him, I can not see how he will be charged with so called, "Motor Vehicle homicide". I do agree if it was a street race and they both knowingly took part in. But if one was just mearly minding his own business and the vette driver trying to follow and lost control, that wouldn't be fault of the mazda owner.



Just as my previous example, If I were to follow a speeding car front of me and the car in the front had no idea, nor intention was to "race", I don't think its the car in the front will be responsible for my death if I loose control and die. Hence this case is absolutely ridiculous! Its words of one person vs this unknown Mazda driver. And the lawyer who only knows one side of the story think he could make a case against this unknown Mazda driver is also seem kind of stupid.

Plus, everyone forgets that it's Alabama law. Even if the law stated the Mazda driver was guilty of something for racing the guy, all he'd have to do is deny knowledge of the Vette's presence and get a reckless driving ticket (if anything.)

This thread is really starting to annoy me.



While I do feel that the Mazda driver in this instance is guilty of nothing more than extreme recklessness, the fact that he was doing something on the order of 150 mph would be reason enough for most judges and or juries to throw the proverbial book at him. Fact is, it's not "legal" to be running 150 mph on a public highway, and if something goes wrong, chances are you'll be blamed for it.



In a tort case, the concept of "contributory negligence" all but guarantees that the "victim's" estate would win a substantial judgement, IMHO.



And no, I'm not a lawyer, but sometimes after 5 or 8 beers I'll start talking like one.



And since we're on the subject of lawyers...



What's the difference between a catfish and a lawyer?



One is a slimy, botom-dwelling scum sucker. The other is a fish!

Your right herblenny, if the driver of the Mazda was oblivious to the Vette's presence, then he might have a defense, but the original post suggests otherwise (emphasis is mine). They were "racing". And as I mentioned earlier, there is a suggestion of witnesses, probably any number of occupants of cars they were "whipping between" just prior to the accident and there might have been other witnesses in either car. Those other motorist's testimony would have to support the Mazda driver's innocent state-of-mind. That's NOT likely.

You can argue the principal, I'm just pointing out the circumstances as I interpreted them from the post and the legal aspects. I'm not trying to defend or convict anyone here. But it sure sounds like a race to me.

What's the difference between a dead skunk in the middle of the road and a dead lawyer in the middle of the road?

There's skid marks in front of the skunk.

JIM,



I see where you are coming from.. I was on the impression from the beginning of this post that it was just an assumption by the vette owner. Reason being he was just mearly stating "silver Mazda". Anyone who have pulled on the interstate will know what kind of car you are racing.. unless you are so far back and trying to catch up to the car front of you.. Also, I hate to say this but so far everything "black93fd" written on this forum are mostly misleading and not informative.

this thread is a waste of bandwidth

Why? You don't like lawyer jokes? https://www.nopistons.com/forums/pub...IR#>/smile.gif