Murder with car is now petty offense?

Write to Julia Rietz, fax her, email her, phone her. This is absolutely appalling, killing someone is now a petty crime?

http://www.news-gazette.com/news/loc...cyclists_death

""I am appalled by your conduct and the manner in which you have driven in the short time you've had a license," Klaus told Stark, who had three prior convictions since May 2005 one for disregarding a traffic light and two for speeding. The last speeding conviction came about five weeks before she hit Mr. Wilhelm.

State's Attorney Julia Rietz made the call not to lodge any more serious charge than improper lane usage against Stark, saying that the legal definition of recklessness, to sustain reckless homicide or reckless driving, did not fit her actions.

But Rietz argued for the maximum sentence of six months of conditional discharge a form of probation without reporting to an officer a $1,000 fine and traffic safety school."

Office of the State's Attorney
Julia Rietz
State's Attorney
Office Contact Information
State's Attorney Julia Rietz
Address Main Office
(Adult Diversion, Criminal Division, Domestic Violence Division, Misdemeanor Division, Traffic Division, Victim/Witness Services)
Courthouse 2nd Floor
101 E. Main St.
Urbana, IL 61801
Map & Directions


Civil Division
Brookens Administrative Center
1776 E. Washington St.
Urbana, IL 61802
Map & Directions

Support Enforcement Division
Brookens Administrative Center
1776 E. Washington St.
Urbana, IL 61802
Map & Directions
Phone Main (217) 384-3733
Adult Diversion (217) 384-3802
Civil Division (217) 384-3776
Domestic Violence Division (217) 384-3750
Misdemeanor Division (217) 384-3813
Support Enforcement Div. (217) 384-3849
Traffic Division (217) 384-3815
Victim/Witness Services (217) 384-8625
Fax Main (217) 384-3816
Civil Division (217) 384-3896
Domestic Violence Division (217) 384-6591
Support Enforcement Div. (217) 384-3851
Public email Main: [email protected]
Support Enforcement Division: [email protected]
Hours Monday-Friday (except Holidays)
8:00 AM - 4:30 PM

Matthew Wilhelm R.I.P

The thing I find most appalling about this case is the fact that she will still be able to drive. If you're driving a vehicle and at fault in an accident where a fatality is involved you should lose your driving privileges for life regardless of whether other charges are applied. Ditto if you're caught DWI, even once, or if you're at fault in three or more non-fatal accidents. And for life should mean exactly that, not that after 10 years or some other period you can reapply for a license. I personally think causing a fatality indicates you're permanently unfit to drive. It's time we permanently got incompetent, reckless, and drunk drivers off the roads for good.

jtr1962 said:

The thing I find most appalling about this case is the fact that she will still be able to drive. If you're driving a vehicle and at fault in an accident where a fatality is involved you should lose your driving privileges for life regardless of whether other charges are applied. Ditto if you're caught DWI, even once, or if you're at fault in three or more non-fatal accidents. And for life should mean exactly that, not that after 10 years or some other period you can reapply for a license. I personally think causing a fatality indicates you're permanently unfit to drive. It's time we permanently got incompetent, reckless, and drunk drivers off the roads for good.

Click to expand...

Agreed; We have too many drivers as it is. Why not weed out the worst offenders and force them to take the public transportation that they are always trying to guilt the rest of us into taking.

really sad !!!

I'm a cyclist sometimes putting in thousands of miles...
so many close calls. most unhealthy thing about cycling is possibility of getting hit by a car.

It's sad, but I understand. Last week I almost took out 3 shoppers laden with xmas bags who were late crossing the street. As the light turned green I was ready to blaze thru the intersection when the three appeared in front of the car already stopped from the red light in the lane next to me. I was able to slam on my brakes and their lives were spared only due to the ABS brakes on my LEX. I could feel the rattling of the breaks as soon as I slammed my foot on the pedal. I had never felt it like that before. They were almost on my hood. You should have seen the expressions on their faces- I don't think they were aware how close to death they were.

Everyone in the world can't be protected by lights and signs, and people are going to make mistakes, some fatal. That's why these laws are so lenient. It's not always the driver's fault, although all accidents should be preventable if the driver is driving safely (by definition).

So you're ok if I drift onto the sidewalk and run you over because I was checking my phone for a text message and wasn't paying attention? I sure hope I get away due to lenient laws in that case.

I wonder if it was Julia Reitz's son/daughter if she thought it would still be a petty offense.

Talk about drivers. I had a grandpa and grandma beeping their horn and cussing at me for not turning into the intersection immediately because I was yielding to the pedestrians crossing the crosswalk who had the right of way. I had another one beep at me for turning into streets a bit too slow for him (these are the idiots that like to swing their car into the streets they are turning into). I yelled at him sarcastically, " I hope you hit your grandkids the next time you wanna drive like that!"

Hello! Do you people got any common sense!? I don't turn into streets slow like some folks do, but I do with cautions as people and kids are running aruond everywhere. Why the fock would I honk at someone ahead of me for not turning into the intersection because people are walking across the street parallel to us? Some people are just pathetic. I really wish they did hit their relatives driving like that so they can see for themself how foolish and dangerous they are.

Enough venting for me today.

- Granni

What's wrong with you people.... it's only a cyclist??
Since he was hogging up the road, not paying any registration, insurance, or gas taxes, that makes him a commie. So, it's ok to run him over.
Now, if he was driving a SUV, that's a different story. He'd qualify for federal tax breaks, FEMA would have a full investigation, and the stupid broad would have gotten the electric chair.

carbine15 said:

Why not weed out the worst offenders and force them to take the public transportation that they are always trying to guilt the rest of us into taking.

Click to expand...

Because they won't. They'll continue to drive. I knew a fellow who had (last that I checked) 27 supsensions/revokations for Driving while license suspended or revocked. He'd get popped driving and get a criminal traffic citation (arrest) then as punishment they'd suspend/revoke his license. The department I worked for had a standing order that if we saw him driving no P.C. for a stop was needed.

WNG said:

What's wrong with you people.... it's only a cyclist??
Since he was hogging up the road, not paying any registration, insurance, or gas taxes, that makes him a commie. So, it's ok to run him over.
Now, if he was driving a SUV, that's a different story. He'd qualify for federal tax breaks, FEMA would have a full investigation, and the stupid broad would have gotten the electric chair.

Click to expand...

I almost ran over two bicyclists the other day. They were riding westbound on the eastbound sidewalk. I was checking the oncoming east bound traffic. Granted I probably should have checked but since it was a divided four lane highway I didn't think I get any traffic coming that direction. I got called a couple names as they passed. I wondered why they weren't riding in the westbound bicycle lane like all the other bicyclists? Oh yeah, their apartment complex was on the westbound lane side. Those people make me mad.

I've no problems with cyclists who share the roadway and ride a professional manner, as most do.

Oh yeah, the girl should be in jail! Manslaughter comes to mind.

First off she should be in jail for downloading ringtones instead of driving properly.

2nd I am a little suprised at the knee-jerk reaction of blanketed statements that some CPFers have made. Crap happens and it's not ALWAYS the fault of the driver. I have had my share of close calls with inner city people dashing in front of my car against lights, cars stopping suddenly just so they can talk to their homies on the side of the road, etc, etc. One day you may have a bad day and get your license revoked for life and you will be complaining to who?

Punish the crime she commited but treat each case with care so you don't overly punish people for accidents.

270winchester said:

2nd I am a little suprised at the knee-jerk reaction of blanketed statements that some CPFers have made. Crap happens and it's not ALWAYS the fault of the driver. I have had my share of close calls with inner city people dashing in front of my car against lights, cars stopping suddenly just so they can talk to their homies on the side of the road, etc, etc. One day you may have a bad day and get your license revoked for life and you will be complaining to who?

Click to expand...

I said causing a fatal accident should be grounds for lifetime license revocation, not being involved in one. There is a huge difference. If someone dashes in front of your car and you kill them, you're not at fault. You wouldn't be charged with anything under either the present system or my proposal.

As for solving the problem mentioned by swampgator of suspended/revoked drivers continuing to drive, that's easy-seize whatever vehicle they're driving and auction it off. Chances are they can't afford to replace their car 27 times. If a friend happens to loan them the car and it gets seized, well, tough luck but it's a good idea to know if someone you're loaning a vehicle to has a suspended/revoked license. Is all this harsh? Sure, but so is killing someone when you lack the competence to drive a motor vehicle. Remember always that driving is a privilege, not a right. Just because someone may choose to live somewhere with no other alternatives to driving doesn't mean that they should be able to use that as an excuse to keep their license no matter how they drive. Yes, lots of cyclists are careless. However, as a cyclist I've been on the receiving end of carelessness far more then I've given it. The absolute lack of courtesy, lack of familiarity with even basic traffic laws, and general cavalier attitude of the drivers I encounter continues to shock me. Standards need to be raised. We need to get marginal drivers off the roads for good even if it greatly inconveniences them.

Cars are dangerous. Car accidents cause more fatalities every year than guns (both accidental or not) in the U.S. I agree that some reform is necessary.

Also, it seems to me that if you break the law and somebody dies, it's Criminal Negligence at the least. I think it's in the definition. Illegal lane usage may be a pretty whimpy law to have violated, but someone died from it. What is that? 3-8 years? something like that? And her license should be revoked until after she finishes her prison time and probation. Not charging her probably had more to do with how much the D.A. believed that they could prove.

There was a similar story locally last spring. An engineering professor was struck and killed by a legally blind driver.
Seems the driver had been diagnosed with a degenerative disease years before, but the optometrists neglected to inform PennDOT, so he still had a valid license.
According to the driver, he "took his eyes off the road for a second, to pick up a soda he'd dropped. He never even saw the cyclist."

I commute to and from work by bike, and while I see plenty of idiots riding the sidewalks, down one-way streets (the wrong way), and just generally recklessly, somehow they never seem to get hurt. The riders who act like traffic, as they should, get mowed down.

Wrong way down a one way on a bike is the way to go. you can see them coming and dodge out of their way.

unfortunately, a true "justice" system where a judge actually sits down and listens to the situation you're in rather than just looking up your offense in the book and sending you off will sometimes result in some goofy happenings. Far better though that you have the potential to listen to the specifics of what happened rather than having a minimum mandatory sentence or some such garbage.

Thats why we have judges and police as separate people.

So in this case it's screwed up, probably, we have no real idea what was said at the trial, but in most cases I believe it works OK. I sure wouldn't want to change it and generally vote against politicians that think they can write the book on what sentences should be or people regardless of circumstances.

carbine15 said:

Wrong way down a one way on a bike is the way to go. you can see them coming and dodge out of their way.

Click to expand...

But unfortunately it's not the legal way to ride a bicycle. That's what the four foot bicycle lane is for.

I am a cyclist, too. My wife and I only ride bikes. We deliberately chose to live in a place where we may do that. The fact that I don't drive cars is only one part of my opinion on this subject, though.

PAB said:

Cars are dangerous. Car accidents cause more fatalities every year than guns (both accidental or not) in the U.S...

Click to expand...

There is something else going on with cars in the Western World IMO. Cars are so integral to life as we know it in the West that we (our society/culture) tend to rationalize away many of the very real dangers they present. We have so much invested in them as a society that we overlook things about them that would routinely cause outrage if they were something that had less impact on our economy, social lives, perceived freedoms,etc.

I have done very dangerous things in very creepy places for huge chunks of my life and yet I'm sure that the vast majority of people I've known who died violent deaths did so in car accidents. Climbing into a car is the single most dangerous thing that most people ever do. We tend to be numbed to the dangers and not even see them. They are accepted as just being "the cost of doing business."

Often in my past I've talked to people who heard about one or another aspect of my old life and commented on how dangerous it was -- but those same folks think nothing of spending two hours commuting on the highway every day. They are like the Eloy in the Time Machine who just accepted their fate without ever really thinking about it.

So yes, you can get away with mayhem in a car that you won't get away with anywhere else. Everyone knows that the thought of living without cars is... well... unthinkable. All of their bad points are rationalized away as just the cost of doing business.

Climbing into a car is the single most dangerous thing that most people ever do.

Click to expand...

I thought walking out your front door was? That's why I always go out the kitchen door!

This is pretty sad to see. But not unheard of. My grandfather was killed due to a drunk driver and the guy got off with a manslaughter offense, kept his license with no suspension, and wasn't even given probation. The drunks wife (also drunk) was also killed due to the accident.

It still outrages me to this day and just thinking about it is making me shake in anger. It's a common thing nowadays for people in cars to get away with this sort of disaster.

As for cyclists, I ride my bike back and forth between job sites to save on gas (I'm not going to ride 35 miles to work on the bike so I drive that distance). There's been a couple of close calls even though I've had right of way, people who drive cars a lot of the time just aren't cautious enough about bikes and pedestrians.

Another note about cyclists, there are a lot of them who don't follow the share the road philosophy when no bike lane or sidewalk is present. Or follow the laws for riding on the streets for that matter. For example, I live on a heavily cycled road and the cyclists will ride 3-4 riders wide down the road and won't fall into line or move and force people to either go at their pace, or drive completely in the other lane around curves etc. Ok...rant off.

There are a lot of things that people get away with due to loopholes etc, and it seems like nothing is getting done about it.