The Law is not fair!(well maybe it is if you are rich white and drunk!)
While surfing the net, I came across a very disturbing article out of Arizona. It seems that if you are rich, white and legally drunk you can get away with murder, or at least vehicular homicide. But if you are black poor and sober you get the vehicular homicide charge and possibly 21 years in prison. I know it sounds like something straight out of the Jim Crow Era but it happened on May 5th 2007, Cinco de Mayo.
It seems that Bryant Wilkerson is looking at 21 years in jail for causing the death of 15 year old Felicia Edwards. Mr Wilkerson was involved in a traffic crash that cost Miss Edwards life. In a panic he fled the scene, 10 minutes later he was in police custody.
The police report states he smelled heavily of alcohol and admitted to smoking pot. A breathalyzer showed his blood alcohol content to be .049 and blood test which is normally considered to be more accurate showed his BAC to be.01. The legal limit in Arizona is .08 according to about.com. so either way Mr Wilkerson was below the legal limit.
Now lets talk about the driver of the other vehicle, the vehicle Miss Edwards was riding in. The driver was 17 year old Laura Varker. Miss Varker and her friends had spent the day tubing on the Salt River and drinking. Sporting "Cinco de Drinko" T-shirts the report indicates the only girl not drinking was Miss Edwards.
At the time of the accident, it was revealed that Laura Varker was over the legal limit. Blood tests revealed her BAC to be .09. It was also revealed that Laura Varker and another girl used fake ID's to purchase Malt liquor and beer.
Now here is where things become unbelievable. Mr Wilkerson was charged with nine felony counts including Manslaughter and aggravated assault. Laura Varker was charged with....nothing.
While Mr Wilkerson was in jail, Miss Varker is posing on her My Space page in a bikini. This may have never come to light if not for the Phoenix New Times News. Since then Many more people are reporting it and blogging on it. This is a sad testimony on our legal system and shows exactly why we need to have legal protection.
Note: please be advised that some of the blogs and articles linked to the site about Mr Wilkerson contain adult language.
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Comments (3)
Cheryl Baumgartner12
Medical Billing/Coding/Insurance
That is a perfect case of why I do this business. The blood test on Mr Wilkerson showed him to be stone cold sober. Mouthwash can cause you to register as high as .02 if you have recently used it with a breath test. The blood test accurately shows the level of alcohol in your blood.
What is really sad is that her family has retained a bunch of high powered lawyers to protect their little darling as if she did nothing wrong! She had committed at least two criminal violations before the acci
Jenny Stewart11
Sick but true Cheryl. Your own president is a great example of it!
Wish it wasnt this way - we just have to keep fighting until the laws become more similar to Justice instead of "social rules"
Jenny
Joseph Botelho15
Working on one project at a time.
Hi Cheryl,
Some things will never change, Money, White, Power and you have the right connections will out weight all the damanage that has been done.
Two legall systems one for the "RICH" and the other for the "Poor"..............sad but so true........
How do you change this system.........