Here in North Carolina, the death penalty is only imposed when someone has been convicted of first-degree murder and only then when the crime was deemed to be “heinous.” Well, we sure must have a lot of heinous going on here because our state has the fifth-largest death row population in the nation. However, the last time we executed anyone was in 2006, mainly because, like many other states, North Carolina is moving away from death penalty sentencing in favor of life without parole. No doubt a life sentence is more humane than the electric chair or lethal injection, and it ensures that innocent men aren’t put to death. The problem is that the criteria remain pretty much the same for life without parole as it is for the death penalty. That means under current law, an entire category of killers may never see the inside of a prison, much less spend the rest of their lives there.
In 2017, a Forsyth County man got drunk, drove his car at high speeds, and crashed, killing his passenger. He was charged with felony death by motor vehicle and ordered to serve a maximum of five years in prison. Why such a light sentence? First, because his misdeed wasn’t considered murder or heinous, and second, because the judge found that the man had no criminal record. In 2023, a drunken driver was operating a golf cart when she struck and killed a young Charlotte woman. The driver was convicted of DWI homicide and sentenced to serve a maximum of 10 years.
And that brings me to Quinten Kight and Annemarie Flanigan, who just last week were charged with “death by impaired boating.” That’s right, the pair got drunk and ran over a 10-year-old girl who was swimming in Harris Lake. The little girl died instantly. We won’t know for a while how a court will rule, but I’ll guarantee that the sentence will be similar to that of every other drunk driving case in recent memory.
In any event, you can bet that the ruling will be light and inconsistent.
Here in North Carolina, sentencing in drunk driving cases varies from county to county and from judge to judge, and the discrepancy can be huge. Many years ago, the Charlotte Observer reported that judges in some counties convict 90 percent of drunk drivers while judges in other counties only convict 10 percent. Overall, our judges acquit about one-third of all drunk drivers. Even worse, according to M.A.D.D., one-third of people convicted of drunk driving are repeat offenders. Talk about catch and release! Tragically, many of those repeat offenders eventually cause the death of one or more persons.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 37 Americans die in drunk driving crashes every day. That’s one death every 39 minutes, and the problem is getting worse. Drunk driving deaths were up 14 percent from 2020 to 2021. Want another horrible statistic? According to the Centers for Disease Control, intoxicated drivers get behind the wheel no less than 112 million times per year. And that doesn’t count drunks who operate ATVs, boats, or golf carts. Yet, for some reason, judges, prosecutors, and society at large don’t treat drunk driving killers the same way as we do other killers.
Let’s be clear about something. Driving drunk is no accident. It is a premeditated act, and when that act results in the death of another person, then that is murder, and every murder is heinous, just ask the families of victims. Here in North Carolina, a drunk driver can get off scot-free if no one was injured, if he has no criminal record, and is a pillar of the community. That then puts the car keys back in his hands and enables him to drive drunk again, which could result in an alcohol-related death. The only way to abate these tragic situations is to mandate a year in prison for first-time drunk driving and life in prison without parole for death by impaired driving. Otherwise, we’re letting drunks drive around with a loaded weapon that’s just waiting to go off, and I can’t think of anything more heinous than that.
Heinous Drinking
Here in North Carolina, the death penalty is only imposed when someone has been convicted of first-degree murder and only then when the crime was deemed to be “heinous.” Well, we sure must have a lot of heinous going on here because our state has the fifth-largest death row population in the nation. However, the last time we executed anyone was in 2006, mainly because, like many other states, North Carolina is moving away from death penalty sentencing in favor of life without parole. No doubt a life sentence is more humane than the electric chair or lethal injection, and it ensures that innocent men aren’t put to death. The problem is that the criteria remain pretty much the same for life without parole as it is for the death penalty. That means under current law, an entire category of killers may never see the inside of a prison, much less spend the rest of their lives there.
In 2017, a Forsyth County man got drunk, drove his car at high speeds, and crashed, killing his passenger. He was charged with felony death by motor vehicle and ordered to serve a maximum of five years in prison. Why such a light sentence? First, because his misdeed wasn’t considered murder or heinous, and second, because the judge found that the man had no criminal record. In 2023, a drunken driver was operating a golf cart when she struck and killed a young Charlotte woman. The driver was convicted of DWI homicide and sentenced to serve a maximum of 10 years.
And that brings me to Quinten Kight and Annemarie Flanigan, who just last week were charged with “death by impaired boating.” That’s right, the pair got drunk and ran over a 10-year-old girl who was swimming in Harris Lake. The little girl died instantly. We won’t know for a while how a court will rule, but I’ll guarantee that the sentence will be similar to that of every other drunk driving case in recent memory.
In any event, you can bet that the ruling will be light and inconsistent.
Here in North Carolina, sentencing in drunk driving cases varies from county to county and from judge to judge, and the discrepancy can be huge. Many years ago, the Charlotte Observer reported that judges in some counties convict 90 percent of drunk drivers while judges in other counties only convict 10 percent. Overall, our judges acquit about one-third of all drunk drivers. Even worse, according to M.A.D.D., one-third of people convicted of drunk driving are repeat offenders. Talk about catch and release! Tragically, many of those repeat offenders eventually cause the death of one or more persons.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 37 Americans die in drunk driving crashes every day. That’s one death every 39 minutes, and the problem is getting worse. Drunk driving deaths were up 14 percent from 2020 to 2021. Want another horrible statistic? According to the Centers for Disease Control, intoxicated drivers get behind the wheel no less than 112 million times per year. And that doesn’t count drunks who operate ATVs, boats, or golf carts. Yet, for some reason, judges, prosecutors, and society at large don’t treat drunk driving killers the same way as we do other killers.
Let’s be clear about something. Driving drunk is no accident. It is a premeditated act, and when that act results in the death of another person, then that is murder, and every murder is heinous, just ask the families of victims. Here in North Carolina, a drunk driver can get off scot-free if no one was injured, if he has no criminal record, and is a pillar of the community. That then puts the car keys back in his hands and enables him to drive drunk again, which could result in an alcohol-related death. The only way to abate these tragic situations is to mandate a year in prison for first-time drunk driving and life in prison without parole for death by impaired driving. Otherwise, we’re letting drunks drive around with a loaded weapon that’s just waiting to go off, and I can’t think of anything more heinous than that.