Personal responsibility, you're doing it wrong.

Post Reply
User avatar
Gawdzilla Sama
Stabsobermaschinist
Posts: 151265
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:24 am
About me: My posts are related to the thread in the same way Gliese 651b is related to your mother's underwear drawer.
Location: Sitting next to Ayaan in Domus Draconis, and communicating via PMs.
Contact:

Personal responsibility, you're doing it wrong.

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:12 pm

Why A Convicted Drunk Driver Is Suing His Victims
Incredible chutzpah follows Christmas day tragedy

In what many would call the biggest act of chutzpah of the last decade, a Florida man who pleaded guilty to committing DUI manslaughter in 2007 after police found drugs in his system is now filing a lawsuit against his dead victims for being the real cause of the accident.

David Belniak is apparently having second thoughts about his plea after spending a few years of a 12 year sentence behind bars. Belniak, who never spoke in his own defense during his trial, is being represented by his sister, an attorney, so legal fees are apparently not an issue.

Attorney Debra A. Tuomey, in making her brother's filing, said the Florida Highway Patrol's investigation of the case was a "government sanctioned assassination against one individual." Her suit suggests that the police and prosecutor's office were driven by Belniak's history as a DUI driver and convicted drug dealer rather than the facts of the accident .

According to the Tampa Bay Times, the lawsuit seeks to get the victims' relatives to pay Belniak, now 38, for his "pain and suffering ... mental anguish ... loss of capacity for the enjoyment of life" and the medical bills he got as a result of a crash he pleaded guilty to causing.

"This is ridiculous," Georgette DeFranco, 48, a relative of the victims, told the Times. "You caused it. You accepted guilt. How can I or anybody in this family be responsible for your injuries?"

DeFranco, the Times reported, lost her mother, Linda McWilliams, 66; her sister, Denise Bassi, 50; and her brother-in-law, Gerard Bassi, 51, in the crash. DeFranco's stepfather, Ray McWilliams, was injured but survived, but died last March at age 68 allegedly, in part, due to the after effects of the accident. The Bassi couple lived in Connecticut and were visiting Florida for the holidays.

Authorities said Belniak, at the time of the accident on Christmas day 2007, was driving between 75 and 85 mph when his pickup smashed into the back of McWilliams' Chevrolet Tahoe. The SUV crumpled. Gerard Bassi died at the scene. Denise Bassi died in surgery that day. Linda McWilliams was taken off life support a week later. Authorities said Belniak had alcohol, Xanax and evidence of cocaine in his system.

A record of drugs and bad driving

Belniak had a history of driving infractions, having faced DUI charges twice before, according to the Times. Belniak also served a previous prison term for possessing and trafficking GHB, commonly known as "the date rape drug."

So how could Belniak possibly be charging that the accident was the fault of the victim?
The suit claims McWilliams was in the left turn lane and "because of his sheer negligence" McWilliams abruptly changed lanes, "making it impossible" for Belniak to avoid the collision. The suit also accuses McWilliams of "possibly" being under the influence of medication at the time of the crash.

Tuomey has said that her brother accepted a plea deal on the three counts of DUI manslaughter and other charges because he was facing a possible sentence of life in prison.

Maureen M. Deskins, the Tampa attorney representing the estate of Linda and Ray McWilliams, told the Tampa Bay Times the lawsuit is "gut-wrenching" and that the relatives are "stunned."

Anyone would be, especially given Belniak's history on top of the details of the accident.
Image
Ein Ubootsoldat wrote:“Ich melde mich ab. Grüssen Sie bitte meine Kameraden.”

User avatar
kiki5711
Forever with Ekwok
Posts: 3954
Joined: Fri Feb 12, 2010 11:51 am
Location: Atlanta, Georgia
Contact:

Re: Personal responsibility, you're doing it wrong.

Post by kiki5711 » Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:42 pm

wow, "she ran into the knife I was holding" not my fault she's dead. :nervous: :nervous:

User avatar
Audley Strange
"I blame the victim"
Posts: 7485
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Personal responsibility, you're doing it wrong.

Post by Audley Strange » Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:45 pm

You can sue the dead?

I think we should be giving this guy a brand and a pharmaceutical company, he's obviously found some stunning drug recipes. Or we could just kill him. Not for revenge or justice or anything, just to get rid of a total worthless cunt. Hell give me immunity for it and I'll come over there and go Congolese on him and his sister with a machete.

Bah! I'm not in a great mood, can you tell?
"What started as a legitimate effort by the townspeople of Salem to identify, capture and kill those who did Satan's bidding quickly deteriorated into a witch hunt" Army Man

User avatar
Gawdzilla Sama
Stabsobermaschinist
Posts: 151265
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:24 am
About me: My posts are related to the thread in the same way Gliese 651b is related to your mother's underwear drawer.
Location: Sitting next to Ayaan in Domus Draconis, and communicating via PMs.
Contact:

Re: Personal responsibility, you're doing it wrong.

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:48 pm

You can sue the estate and heirs. As the two dead people would have been awarded a few hundred thousand dollars by an insurance company, the drunken bastard probably thought it was worth a shot.
Image
Ein Ubootsoldat wrote:“Ich melde mich ab. Grüssen Sie bitte meine Kameraden.”

User avatar
Audley Strange
"I blame the victim"
Posts: 7485
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2011 5:00 pm
Contact:

Re: Personal responsibility, you're doing it wrong.

Post by Audley Strange » Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:58 pm

Can't you have a class action suit from everyone who read this article suing the wanker, claiming psychological damage caused by the stress of knowing such a cunt has not been turned into cat food?
"What started as a legitimate effort by the townspeople of Salem to identify, capture and kill those who did Satan's bidding quickly deteriorated into a witch hunt" Army Man

MrJonno
Posts: 3442
Joined: Wed Feb 24, 2010 7:24 am
Contact:

Re: Personal responsibility, you're doing it wrong.

Post by MrJonno » Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:14 pm

Confused surely if he thinks he has been wrongly convicted he should be sueing the state?, what have the victims (even if he thinks they arent victims) got to do with it?
When only criminals carry guns the police know exactly who to shoot!

User avatar
Gawdzilla Sama
Stabsobermaschinist
Posts: 151265
Joined: Thu Feb 26, 2009 12:24 am
About me: My posts are related to the thread in the same way Gliese 651b is related to your mother's underwear drawer.
Location: Sitting next to Ayaan in Domus Draconis, and communicating via PMs.
Contact:

Re: Personal responsibility, you're doing it wrong.

Post by Gawdzilla Sama » Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:16 pm

MrJonno wrote:Confused surely if he thinks he has been wrongly convicted he should be sueing the state?, what have the victims (even if he thinks they arent victims) got to do with it?
He can sue any and everybody. He can sue YOU, for that matter. Whether the courts take up the case is another thing entirely.
Image
Ein Ubootsoldat wrote:“Ich melde mich ab. Grüssen Sie bitte meine Kameraden.”

User avatar
amok
Posts: 900
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2011 1:23 am
About me: Bearer of bad news.
Location: Nova Scotia
Contact:

Re: Personal responsibility, you're doing it wrong.

Post by amok » Fri Jan 20, 2012 4:02 am

Authorities said Belniak had alcohol, Xanax and evidence of cocaine in his system.
Without reading the trial transcripts and lawsuit, the only thing that springs to mind that if he's alleging he didn't have alcohol, Xanax and evidence of cocaine in his system at the time of the accident, and was coerced into taking a plea because of his history, it might be a different story.

At first I thought it couldn't possibly be, because if there was malfeasance by prosecutors/police or whatnot he'd simply attempt the wrongful conviction route. But then I started thinking about the cases where people have actually been executed even though later evidence came to light, because, apparently, of the concept of the original conviction meeting some sort of standard.

In which case (IF, in fact, he is alleging he was not impaired or at fault), it might be the only option for his legal team (his sister, in this case), to attempt to get some facts into a civil-case courtroom, where the evidence standard is different than in criminal court, in a bid to get something on record to reverse the criminal conviction.

I didn't see anything about that in the story, but I'm just raising it as a possibility. Because nothing else makes sense, to be frank.
It may be true that the law cannot make a man love me, but it can keep him from lynching me, and I think that's pretty important.
- Martin Luther King Jr.

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Google [Bot] and 36 guests