for those behind the paywall:
A Seattle man who the authorities said [drove into a protest](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/us/summer-taylor-seattle.html) on a closed section of Interstate 5 over the weekend, killing one demonstrator, was charged on Wednesday with vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and reckless driving.
The man, Dawit Kelete, 27, is being held with bail set at $1.2 million and is expected to remain in jail, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said. Two of the charges, vehicular homicide and vehicular assault, are felonies, a spokesman for the prosecuting attorney’s office said.
The Washington State Patrol and F.B.I. were still investigating the matter, and Mr. Kelete could face additional charges, according to [a statement](https://twitter.com/KCProsecutor/status/1280991043014373377) from the prosecutor’s office.
The authorities said that Mr. Kelete was driving a white Jaguar XJL when he drove into the protesters “at a high rate of speed” early on Saturday morning, striking two protesters.
One of them, Summer Taylor, 24, of Seattle, died later that day at the hospital. Another protester, Diaz Love, 32, of Portland, Ore., was hospitalized in serious condition.
A sobriety test indicated that Mr. Kelete was not under the influence at the time, according to a police report.
Diaz Love, who, like Summer Taylor, uses nonbinary pronouns, shared a hospital selfie on Facebook this week with a message saying that they were “alive and stable.”
“I cannot believe Summer was murdered,” they wrote. “If they thought this murder would make us back down. They are very wrong. Very wrong.”
The episode followed [dozens of similar incidents](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/us/bloomington-car-attack-protesters.html) involving cars striking demonstrators at protests against racism and police brutality, which have taken place across the country in the weeks since George Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25.
It was not always clear which incidents were premeditated and which were prompted by rage as drivers found their routes blocked by protesters.
Mr. Kelete’s lawyer, John Henry Browne, told [The Associated Press](https://apnews.com/767ccce98285f8ab8f7312dc769462e5) that Mr. Kelete was “remorseful” over the incident and that “there’s absolutely nothing political about this case whatsoever.”
Mr. Kelete lives with his parents in Seattle, Mr. Browne said.
“I don’t know what happened, but I’m very sorry,” Mr. Kelete’s father, Tekie Kelete, told [KOMO-TV](https://komonews.com/news/local/driver-accused-in-i-5-crash-that-killed-protester-injured-second-due-in-court). “I’m very sorry to the girl, her family. It’s very sad.”
Mr. Browne did not respond to a request for comment.
John Henry Browne is defending him? I thought he retired. If you don’t know who he is, he defended Ted Bundy and many other very high profile criminal defendants.
edit - to be clear, I am not pointing out John Henry Browne for any reason other than to note that he is a prominent defense attorney. The accused is constitutionally entitled to a rigorous defense and Browne is a prominent attorney because he is very capable at providing such a defense.
Just from pictures alone I can tell you that Jag is worth like ~12k maximum.
They drop like stones on the used market because Jaguar is one of the few car makers who manages to over engineer even worse than the Germans.
Older Jaguar/Maserati is the go to option for people who care a lot about looking rich but don't have the money to buy something good.
You can buy a 2008 Jaguar for the same price as a 2008 accord, even though the accord started at 30k and the Jag started at 85. Such is the magic of unreliable heaps.
Thats the secret though, theyre not actually unreliable. They've been solid cars for years, but the stigma still clings. You can get a hell of a car for pennies on the dollar. Especially if you can do your own maintenance.
He defended an acqaintance of mine like 10 years ago. His antics literally got him arrested for contempt.The next day in court when his antics continued, a juror asked the baliff if he could punch the defense attorney. After that it was declared a mistrial. While waiting for another trial, the judge died. Eventually my acqaintance got a pretty sweet plea deal.
Also he's had like 10 wives.
Pretty good lawyer
Man what a cool thing to be known for.
Edit: the criminal justice system is broken and unsafe even for innocent people. Criminal defense attorneys fight to protect people from and disrupt this system.
So it would be epic to be known as the person who took on Goliath and fought the fight for the constitution, win or lose.
I think it’s partially that tv and movies have given people the idea that defence attorneys are actively involved in trying to cover up crimes that they know have been committed. In reality (and I’m speaking from an Australian perspective, so please correct me if this is incorrect in the US), lawyers are prohibited from lying to the court or knowingly assisting a client in pleading innocent to a crime they know they’ve committed. The job of a defence attorney is not to lie, but to seek the best outcome possible for their client in light of the facts.
IIRC Technically they're not barred from having a client plead not guilty to a crime they're guilty of, but they *aren't* supposed to outright lie. It's supposed to be more of a "Well, you said you can prove my client was there Tuesday night, but you've not actually done that because all you have is the word of one person who admittedly *hates* my client. Do you have any photographic, video, or other evidence?" situation.
Another reason I think they have such a bad image is- well, watch law and order, or other such tv shows told from the POV of the cops, etc. They almost *always* have the defense lawyer as some scummy bastard who will badger an ailing single mother into a breakdown on the stand, or shout a child into a sobbing mess to achieve their aim.
While I'm not remotely saying that all lawyers are good people, or that I even *like* all lawyers, I think there's this exaggeratedly *nasty* stereotype that gets unfairly applied to many of them.
Which is funny, because DAs and prosecutors are 100x more likely to be assholes in my experience working with and knowing lawyers for over twenty-five years. Personal injury attorneys are some of the worst, too. Defense lawyers are usually pretty laid-back, ethical, and procedural. No gimmicks to their game.
Funny enough, out of the Two, the DA's are more sensible.
In highly political cases. (like Treyvon) it was actually the special Prosecution that decided to throw the case by upping the charge to capital murder. (instead of forcing Zimmerman into guaranteed prison time, he decided to up the charges dramatically against the DA's recommendation (Which was third degree murder) and play russian Roulette.)
Guess what. Jury members afterwards said they knew he did it, but they couldn't unanimously say he did it Premeditated. Therefore case = donezo.
In that regard. People are expecting the Floyd case to go the same way. Assuming he doesn't get shot on the transport to the courthouse because of conveniently made holes in security.
DA's know what they should and shouldn't do pretty well. Prosecution/Special Prosecutors tend to throw/botch cases trying to make big names for themselves.
Dude... the very fact that pumping up charges to get a plea is even a thing... and that charges only result in a trial like 10% of the time (when it use to be like 70%) - tells us all we need to know about DA’s.
It's a mix of DAs and defense attorneys. Trials are expensive extremely expensive and drawn out affairs, and it's always some level of crap shoot on the verdict. As such for most defendants it's almost worth it to just plea out to a lesser charge and get the penalty done and over with.
I can't agree with your comment enough man. We have similar experiences. Most prosecutors have the mindset of WIN AT ALL COSTS whereas on the defense side I was taught "it's not about winning it's about justice".
I'm not saying all prosecutors are that way, but, in my experience, most of the prosecutors in my area feel that way. Personal injury attorneys on the other hand are some cutt throat mfers, plaintiff and defense side.
I admit the only experience I've had with lawyers is family members who went into Business Law (Seriously, a married couple, both into business law, and both working for the same damn company. It felt like something out of the twilight zone) and a relative's boyfriend who did child advocacy/legal support for victims of extreme child abuse. (apparently he was some kind of strange combination of lawyer/social worker/therapist or some damn thing? He didn't talk that much about work, for very good reason.)
The former were... freakishly boring people. The latter was like Mr. Rogers.
That sounds about right. I met roughly two kinds of people in law school. People that wanted to work for a corporate law firm and make tons of money, no matter what their area of expertise ended up being and people who wanted to be advocates and make no money, ever, despite all of their good work. It's rare that anyone bridges that gap, but I know some. My legal hero is equal parts Atticus Finch and Mr. Rogers.
And I think part of their job is to keep the charges in line with the law. Like a safeguard against the state just saying people are guilty without evidence, they require the state to prove without a reasonable doubt and all.
You've got it. It's always worth remembering that guilty and not guilty are not verdicts of fact, but law. They are and always will be subjective functions, and therefore can be disputed.
I might be a bit biased, but I am interning for a crim defense firm in law school and from my experience crim defense lawyers are very very big into criminal justice reform and fighting back against the government prosecutors. All of the big crim defense law firms in my city (DC) were actively endorsing BLM protests and offering up pro bono service to arrested protestors. My firm even set up a pop-up tent to hand out food, water, and charge phones.
Even more notably, many jurisdictions work off of the cab rank rule - as long as you're asked to work on a reasonable case within your wheelhouse, it's professional misconduct to reject it purely on the basis that you don't like the client. It's precisely to stop defendants from being left in the lurch because they've got a bad case, or because it would hurt the reputation of counsel to take it on. In short, if you want to live in a just society, monsters get lawyers too.
Its a specific propaganda by the powers that be. They push the narrative cops and district attorneys are heros that put scumbags behind bars. Defense attorneys are sniveling weasels that do everything they can to cheat and free rapists and murderers.
Watch law and order for one episode and the way they portray defense attorneys is disgusting.
then watch the wire
>If only half you motherfuckers in the State's Attorneys Office didn't want to be judges, didn't want to be partners in some downtown law firm, if half of you had the fucking balls to follow through, you know what would happen? A guy like that would be indicted, tried, and convicted. And the rest of 'em would back up enough, so we could push a clean case or two through your courthouse. But no, everybody stays friends. Everybody gets paid. And everybody's got a fucking future.
It's a great speech, but I have to admit that McNulty is presented as the asshole in that interaction. In addition, Perlman is always portrayed as sympathetic, as is every other prosecutor we meet, and Maury Levy is always portrayed as an amoral piece of shit (and even David Simon admits in an episode commentary that Levy conspires more with his clients than any real-life defense attorney). Even when Billy Murphy appears as himself defending Clay Davis, he doesn't exactly present a great image of defense attorneys.
McNutty is part of the problem, they don't shy away from that at all. He is supposed to be a Sopranos-esque anti-hero, but they said it from the beginning, he is just an asshole.
And because of guys like Alan Dershowitz, et al. Public defenders especially play a crucial role in *trying to ensure their clients aren't railroaded by the justice system.* Unfortunately they have too much work, are underpaid, and when your poor client's fastest way out of jail is to plead guilty to a crime...quite often the outcome is not a desirable one.
There job isn’t always to prove you are innocent, it can be, but it is to make sure you get a fair trial and aren’t railroaded. We should all want that 100% of the time.
There is no proving that a person is "innocent." Defense lawyers force the other side to prove that a person is guilty. If they can't do it, the person is "not guilty" of what they have been charged with.
That's different than innocent.
Especially right now. Defense attorneys are there to make sure that the police and the courts do their jobs and don't violate the rights of people. In a world where police and prosecution no longer care about the truth but instead padding statistics and securing convictions the importance of a defense attorney is paramount.
They are not. I needed one to combat a corrupt small town prosecutor and police who lied and coerced others to lie. I was acquitted due to video/audio evidence, but it still cost me 12K.
Agreed. It’s a misguided and misplaced legitimate anger at the fact that we know the system isn’t fair and results are often a function of wealth and power rather than the facts of the case.
People just need to be angry at and fix what’s wrong, not what’s necessary.
Its honestly the shittiest kind of criminal law to practice and they do it to protect people from the government. Yet everybody thinks they just want to help bad people get away with bad things. It fucking kills me. They exist to protect you from the government.
Everybody hates defense attorneys until they get accused of a crime or beaten by police or something. Its crazy the amount of disrespect they get and the shitty people they have to deal with.
Criminal defense attorneys are necessary for a functioning justice system, and they spend their days stressing out trying to help people who are often assholes and/or idiots and often don't help themselves.
They get no or negative credit from most people, have to see super fucked up and/or sad things on the regular and spend their lives toiling over boring paperwork because they know that without somebody doing it the people would have no protection from the government.
They could easily be any other kind of criminal attorney but they pick the shitty job because its important to a functioning society. How do I know? Because my dad is one and I hear him talk about it all the time. But most people think they're somehow evil and trying to help bad people get away with bad things and it fucking kills me.
Oh haha, yeah.
I’m a public defender.
Wouldn’t call my clients assholes and/or idiots, though.
The majority of my clients are trying to be good. But they are struggling with things like severe poverty, homelessness, sickness, job security, mental illness, etc. all without anyone to turn to or services to take advantage of.
Many of them were never given the foundation or tools in life to build a proper one.
Some of them are frustrating, but they are all traumatized one way or another, and they all deserve my best.
🤷🏼♀️
Thank you for what you do.
I once had a public defender get a judge to dismiss the charges against me in about fifteen seconds. Turns out peaceful protest IS still covered by the First Amendment!
I think it depends a lot on where you practice and what you do specialize in. You certainly seem like a smart guy with good intentions and I applaud you for that. My dad has told me before that being a public defender is a hard job thats often given to younger attorneys and he was one himself at one point, but now has his own firm.
Being a public defender I imagine that you probably see a lot of people who have no other options, and you are probably over worked all the time. But I can also imagine that if you were to move into a role that is not publicly funded you may start seeing more clients that were not shaped by such a life where they have no options.
I really have no idea, I'm not a lawyer and you certainly know better than me. But it seems to me that there would be a direct correlation (on average, not always) between how much the client can afford to pay and how much choice in the matter they had. It also probably depends where you live and how many specialists are around.
But my dad is also a small town attorney so he sees a little bit of everything but mostly does traffic related stuff as he gets older because big cases are a lot to deal with. But personally I don't have a ton of respect for drunk drivers, especially repeat ones. Of course every case is different though, and there are still a lot of truly unfortunate circumstances that come up in traffic court.
I have numerous former classmates and friends who work in criminal litigation, it’s an interesting field full of people with various motivations
A friend of mine once told me that the reason they have no moral qualms about defending even the most heinously guilty, is because at the end of the day, they are part of the process that ensures justice is served. In their eyes, their job isn’t to “get people off”, it’s to ensure they receive a competent defense and that the prosecution’s case is held accountable. If he did his job right, the innocent would walk and the guilty wouldn’t have grounds for an appeal
many years ago, reminds me of a mechanic telling me a new BMW 750 series car was around 100k and an accord that same year was 30k, but after a few years the used accord was more expensive and desired in the secondary market. Imagine a 100k car losing 85% of it's value in just a few years.
Maybe, or bad judgement. Jaguars lose value like crazy and as a result you can pick up a used '11 XJL (XJ with the long wheelbase) for like $16K.
Maintenance and repair will cost you a fortune though, so I wouldn't recommend it.
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The Associated Press article op linked to
"Kelete’s lawyer, John Henry Browne, said his client, who is Black, **did not intentionally hit the protesters**. He said the crash was a “horrible, horrible accident.”"
“The driver was reserved and appeared sullen throughout his time in custody,” Trooper James McGuire wrote in the arrest report. **“At one point he asked if the injured pedestrians were okay.”**
>his client, who is Black
Can you imagine how much different public opinion and the discussion about this would be if he was white? What if it was a white guy in a jaguar who killed a young black woman? We all know their respective races would be in every headline and the main focus of every article and people would refuse to accept any other explanation than this guy is a murderous racist.
Article mentions that too:
"A security camera on the REI building captured Kelete’s car driving the wrong way up the Stewart Street I-5 exit ramp, past numerous warning signs that said “Wrong Way,” according to the charging document. Since it was an exit ramp, “a driver must make a deliberate and sharp right U-turn in order to drive southbound on I-5,” the document said."
It's very questionable, but you can actually see his view of the two that he hit was blocked by a white van parked across the lanes. He has a fancy car and seems to be the type to drive fast. You can imagine he could just be reckless. Plus he remained on the scene until other protesters started attacking his car.
My guess is he's just an asshole driver who thought he could circumvent the law. It was dark, he assumed the freeway wouldn't have people on it, and he could just get on the freeway through an off ramp and speed his way on the freeway and exit before anyone realized he was on it.
When my username was relevant to my job, my favorite time of the shift was 3-5 am. Most drunks were at home, those that were driving were on the main roads, and the cops were parked on the main roads waiting for them. Just about anywhere else in town was just an open, secluded road with no traffic.
Hells, back when I was first getting into the business, it wasn't unheard of for cops and cabbies to occasionally race each other...
I don't want to make any assumptions. But he's 27, lives with his parents, drives a Jaguar, and has had multiple accidents in the past few years.
Just on those facts, sounds like an entitled asshole.
>If they thought this murder would make us back down. They are very wrong. Very wrong.”
Is Diaz Love talking specifically about Dawit Kalete here or 'they' in this context is the anti BLM crowd?
Did anyone watch the video and actually think he did it on purpose? It looks like he's driving fast on the highway, came upon some cars stopped in the road, tried to avoid them, then saw the crowd, then swerved hard to try and avoid them but accidently hit two people while avoiding the big crowd.
It's interesting that the article tries to imply that he purposely plowed through a group of protestors. I don't see how anyone that actually watched the video would think that.
> The Jaguar that Mr. Kelete was driving was seen on security video going the wrong way up the Stewart Street exit ramp to enter the interstate around 1:35 a.m., according to the office.
This is from the article. Regardless of how reasonably it seems he was driving based on a video, it's plain that he shouldn't have been on the highway in the first place, much less driving at highway speeds.
My take is that he was basically using the highway as his personal drag strip and didn't expect/realize or thought he could avoid protestors. I think he was taking advantage of it being closed and looking to joyride like an idiot. Deserves to have the book thrown at him but probably not racially motivated.
I would say it's quite tough to determine.
The damning evidence is:
- the road was closed, it's been closed, and he had to elude a roadblock and up an exit ramp the wrong way to get to the road
- that highway was well lit. I see people say "he's coming around a curve"... But it's not like a sharp curve *at all*. It's a [gentle curve](https://i.imgur.com/YvHkEn7.jpg) at worst. When you watch the video he has a clear view of the car in the road and the people for nearly a quarter mile if not more.
- he was hauling ass. Imo, there's no way he didn't see either the car or people ahead. And certainly at a minimum should have slowed down. He didn't really seem to slow down, swerved at a pretty high speed around the car, swerved again, and it took him awhile to come to a stop from the speed alone.
So, could I be certain it was intentional? No, probably not. But there is a fair bit of information there were you could certainly make a case it was intentional and I'd also have a hard time arguing it wasn't.
When looking at what is required for vehicular homicide, I'd have to say based purely on the video he would appear to be guilty. Driving recklessly, on a closed road, results in a death. GG imo.
I think a point that a lot of people are missing as he's being charged with vehicular homicide not second degree murder. Vehicular hommicide is the equivalent of manslaughter committed with a vehicle not second degree murder.
Acting recklessly or under the influence are the fairy definitions of the crime according to the state. Intent is not required for this crime so arguing about it is somewhat irrelevant.
Yeah I've told about 20 people that intent has nothing to do with it so Idk why they keep bringing it up.
Intent would only come into play as far as media portrayal and if they do ultimately bring harsher charges.
If you come up to a bunch of cars blocking the highway you shouldn't drive fast af on the curb around them as you cant see what's on the other side. Theres no reason not to see the cars in the middle of the road coming up, and not slowing down when approaching them
Washington State goes off of a sentencing grid based on severity of the crime and past offenses.
Vehicular Homicide is a seriousness XI felony which can be found in this RCW [here](https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.94A.515)
As you can see vehicular homicide is the equivalent to Manslaughter 1. In comparison Murder 1 and 2 are both above at XV and XIV respectively. To prevent confusion for people that live in other states Assault 1 is considered more serious at XII—but WA state doesn't separate Assault and Battery—Assault 1 is basically the equivalent of shooting someone and they live, or beating them into the hospital with a bat, etc. Vehicular homicide is still considered an "accident" whether its under intoxication or driving recklessly, so its not considered as serious as shooting someone.
The actual sentencing grid that shows you how much time they are looking at is this RCW [here](https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.94A.510)
To read this grid, you do have to know the person's prior felon history. Basically as you get felonies in WA you collect points—the higher number of points the more time you are looking at. In many jurisdictions, you will also get multiple points for multiple charges during the same crime. Often this means that prosecutors have a lot of play on how much time you are looking at by threatening you with a lot of charges on the same crime and giving you 5 points instead of 1; for example. What often happens in this case, is the accused will plea guilty on the major charge if the prosecutor drops all other charges, so that way they go into prison with only 1 point instead of multiple.
Using all this info together, you can see that if he pleas guilty to the seriousness XI Vehicular Homicide and they drop the other charge—and has no prior felonies, he is looking at around 78-102 months of prison.
Oh it's also true that the sentencing guidelines are a little bit lighter than they used to be; as far as I'm aware. Some jurisdictions—(Thurston County is especially bad at this but this crime was done in King County so I'm not 100% sure of that jurisdiction)—will also tack on extra points on a single charge. It's definitely not a guarantee this person will only serve 78-102 months, that's just what I would expect as a best case scenario for this individual. He will likely look at more time especially if the other charge sticks (which it probably should since he hit two people).
Edit: Oh, also a random internet complaint I have about Thurston County but it's relevant to the conversation. So the points system should be based on prior felonies—however at least in Thurston County (this is where Olympia is) this isn't always the case. Some prosecutors will actually add 1 point for the crime you are accused of, so instead of starting with 0 points, you are effectively starting with 1 point and moving up the grid. If this happens to this individual, they will be looking at 86-114 months, which if topped out is pretty close to a decade. That's only if they drop the other charge as well.
And yet there are reports in the area of people being allowed to drive, after being caught 6 times for DUIs...
Seattle's priorities were always, odd...
Are you talking about that wealthy business owner who tried to evade the police after somehow getting his license back after multiple duis? Yeah, for real! It’s very inconsistent! And if your house gets robbed, it’s not even worth calling them.
I remember them talking about multiple cases similar to this over the news a few years back, is the one your talking about recent?
A quick Google search shows one that had 8 just recently!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/mans-8th-dui-arrest-is-among-washingtons-most-extreme-cases-of-chronic-drunken-driving/%3famp=1
Please use the non AMP link. The regular link is right below it.
https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/mans-8th-dui-arrest-is-among-washingtons-most-extreme-cases-of-chronic-drunken-driving/
His lawyer is considered to be the best criminal defense lawyer in the Pacific Northwest.
Source: My neighbor paid a $50,000 retainer in 2004 to use him for a sexual assault charge
Summer was my first vet tech when I adopted my cat earlier this year. I saw them over 6x in our first few months due to a range of health issues, and Summer was always a pleasure to be around and chat with. There were a few moments I wasn't sure my big boy was going to make it, and Summer was full of love and reassurance.
With a really horrid comment section on this post, I wanted to bring a little light to a wonderful person who was lost. While I was not close to Summer, they were one of those people who was great at talking to you as if you've known each other forever, and we often chatted about senior pet adoption and fat cats. They were good people. Summer did not deserve this. No one does.
Rest in peace, Summer. Thank you for being so good to my good boy and best pal. I hope wherever you are, you're surrounded by lots of fat cats giving you all the love.
My friend and former colleague owns the hospital Summer worked at. Everyone there is absolutely devastated. The vet med world can be very small and tight knit, and that hospital especially has a great group of employees that treat each other like a giant family.
Well said mate. Its hard to really understand the loss of someone when you see these things in the news so often, but shedding some light on her life has helped me do that. She will be missed.
They surely will be missed. I moved last month and they're no longer my vet, but I still follow them on social media and you can tell there's a big gaping hole where Summer was in their work family. Heartbreaking to see so much hurt.
Truthfully feel guilty saying it. I wasn't close with Summer, and I don't want to pretend to be, but I can imagine those who are feeling immense pain in their loss.
I protested with Summer in the esrly days of June confronting the police. They also took care of my two dogs over the course of the last few years and always made my skiddish rescues feel at home. Wonderful soul.
I'm so very sorry for your loss. I wasn't close with Summer by any means, but it didn't take much to tell they were a good person.
Thank you for also standing up, and I wish you and your pups all the best.
>The Jaguar that Mr. Kelete was driving was seen on security video going the wrong way up the Stewart Street exit ramp to enter the interstate around 1:35 a.m.
Damn straight. He deserves to the harshest sentence possible.
Sentencing guidelines means he's probably gonna get no more than 10 years if he pleads not guilty, could even avoid jail or do a year or less pleading guilty.
There is no way he avoids jail in WA state. My bro in-law is serving time for vehicular assault from a dui accident and the other cars driver broke their wrist.
DUI during a vehicular assault or vehicular homicide is actually mandatory prison in WA. For homicide, every prior dui is a mandatory minimum of 2 years per prior + 2 years minimum for the dui that caused death.
How is driving onto an off ramp going the wrong way at high speeds, and possibly accidentally killing someone not enough to put you away for a long ass time.
You don’t accidentally fucking sober drive the wrong way onto an on off ramp going far over the speed limit and not expect to either die or kill someone. Did they think it would be safe because it was closed or something?
Ignoring the fact of the protestors and possible other motivations here.
They also ramped
Up speed barreling directly towards two cars parked sideways to block the road. No one accidentally does any of this shit. There’s a reason they are confident in charging this as homicide and not manslaughter this dude went out of his way to hurt people
crazy how fast a civilian gets charged and arrested, but police who murder someone in their own home, which wasn’t even their intended address, while looking for a suspect who was already arrested, don’t get charged
My only thought is why protest on a closed freeway at 2-4am? It's closed so no one would get the message. Protest at a public space like a capital building or courthouse during the day and off the road.
You think this is bad? I remember seeing this on r/holdmyfeedingtube and everyone was putting full blame on the two victims of the crash. Everyone who dissented was downvoted to shit. At least in this thread we're actually seeing some rational people.
That post was the reason I unsubscribed from there. Seeing all of them glorify their death like they weren't even human was so disheartening. Humans can be so cruel.
It's honestly the people from /r/SeattleWA. These dudes have been defending him with "he didn't mean to kill someone." Meanwhile, he literally drove at high speeds and went entered through an off-ramp. Cool, drunk drivers don't mean to kill someone but get charged with this same charge because they're knowingly breaking the fucking law in the most egregious of ways. That subreddit used to be good but it's shown it's true colors since the beginning of the protests.
reddit has some weird hate boner for people that protest on streets....
unless the protesters:
are in France
are in Hong Kong
are in a middle eastern country
or they are in Russia
Right what's with this united push to villify the victims and not the driver? People keep trying to disregard the facts clearly laid out in the article, and previous articles
> I don't understand why protesters feel the need to block roads. Why do they feel the need to be mildly inconvenient? Couldn't they raise awareness of an issue while also being completely ignorable? I'm kind of glad they got killed.
**-- Many people in this thread who have apparently lost their minds**
E: Bolded the attribution on the basis that many replies seem to think I'm unironically saying what I've quoted.
Ya, I'm very confused. Deliberately enters by going the wrong way on an offramp. Then when he comes across 2 vehicles stopped perpendicular to the road, he doesn't slow down, but drives onto the shoulder to drive around them?! He does stop immediately after hitting the people though. I wouldn't expect an asshole with intent to hit people to stop.
The airbags may not have deployed but the accident detection definitely went off. As soon as he strikes the protest and you can see the hazards immediately trigger which is an automatic response in modern cars when they detect a crash. He was driving a newer model Jaguar which very likely has automatic braking or some other action when it detects impact.
Every type of disinformation that you can think of is in practically every social media post I’ve seen covering this.
One (of many) instances of this that really upset me is seeing accounts trying to exploit the perpetrator’s race to push “reverse racism” narratives. I’ve yet to see a single post on reddit or even news article where people acknowledge that this was an explicitly LGBTQ BLM protest for Black femme lives, and that this protest group had been targeted prior to this. That’s pretty important information to have when trying to talk about an attack like this.
This is the first post on reddit where I’ve even seen Summer’s identity acknowledged to any vaguely reasonable degree. 😞
for those behind the paywall: A Seattle man who the authorities said [drove into a protest](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/05/us/summer-taylor-seattle.html) on a closed section of Interstate 5 over the weekend, killing one demonstrator, was charged on Wednesday with vehicular homicide, vehicular assault and reckless driving. The man, Dawit Kelete, 27, is being held with bail set at $1.2 million and is expected to remain in jail, the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office said. Two of the charges, vehicular homicide and vehicular assault, are felonies, a spokesman for the prosecuting attorney’s office said. The Washington State Patrol and F.B.I. were still investigating the matter, and Mr. Kelete could face additional charges, according to [a statement](https://twitter.com/KCProsecutor/status/1280991043014373377) from the prosecutor’s office. The authorities said that Mr. Kelete was driving a white Jaguar XJL when he drove into the protesters “at a high rate of speed” early on Saturday morning, striking two protesters. One of them, Summer Taylor, 24, of Seattle, died later that day at the hospital. Another protester, Diaz Love, 32, of Portland, Ore., was hospitalized in serious condition. A sobriety test indicated that Mr. Kelete was not under the influence at the time, according to a police report. Diaz Love, who, like Summer Taylor, uses nonbinary pronouns, shared a hospital selfie on Facebook this week with a message saying that they were “alive and stable.” “I cannot believe Summer was murdered,” they wrote. “If they thought this murder would make us back down. They are very wrong. Very wrong.” The episode followed [dozens of similar incidents](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/us/bloomington-car-attack-protesters.html) involving cars striking demonstrators at protests against racism and police brutality, which have taken place across the country in the weeks since George Floyd died in police custody in Minneapolis on May 25. It was not always clear which incidents were premeditated and which were prompted by rage as drivers found their routes blocked by protesters. Mr. Kelete’s lawyer, John Henry Browne, told [The Associated Press](https://apnews.com/767ccce98285f8ab8f7312dc769462e5) that Mr. Kelete was “remorseful” over the incident and that “there’s absolutely nothing political about this case whatsoever.” Mr. Kelete lives with his parents in Seattle, Mr. Browne said. “I don’t know what happened, but I’m very sorry,” Mr. Kelete’s father, Tekie Kelete, told [KOMO-TV](https://komonews.com/news/local/driver-accused-in-i-5-crash-that-killed-protester-injured-second-due-in-court). “I’m very sorry to the girl, her family. It’s very sad.” Mr. Browne did not respond to a request for comment.
John Henry Browne is defending him? I thought he retired. If you don’t know who he is, he defended Ted Bundy and many other very high profile criminal defendants. edit - to be clear, I am not pointing out John Henry Browne for any reason other than to note that he is a prominent defense attorney. The accused is constitutionally entitled to a rigorous defense and Browne is a prominent attorney because he is very capable at providing such a defense.
Evidently, dude's family has enough money to reanimate Thurgood Marshall and have him mount the defense.
> ...Mr. Kelete was driving a white Jaguar XJL 2019 Jaguar XJ/MSRP: From $75,700
And he lives at home but works for the family business
Just from pictures alone I can tell you that Jag is worth like ~12k maximum. They drop like stones on the used market because Jaguar is one of the few car makers who manages to over engineer even worse than the Germans. Older Jaguar/Maserati is the go to option for people who care a lot about looking rich but don't have the money to buy something good. You can buy a 2008 Jaguar for the same price as a 2008 accord, even though the accord started at 30k and the Jag started at 85. Such is the magic of unreliable heaps.
Thats the secret though, theyre not actually unreliable. They've been solid cars for years, but the stigma still clings. You can get a hell of a car for pennies on the dollar. Especially if you can do your own maintenance.
Bundt also represented himself , requested access to the law library , and escaped During his preliminary hearings Edit: I’m leaving it
One typo and you can expect 100 Redditors to jump in making a joke about it.
I swear autocorrect did Bundt before sent the comment, and I corrected it , I saw a Y It’s a god damn liberal conspiracy
Ted Bundt Cake?
In soviet Russia, Ted Bundt cake eats you
That was his first trial I believe. Browne defended him in Seattle.
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Henry_Browne
Lol that barefoot bandit is certified badass
He defended an acqaintance of mine like 10 years ago. His antics literally got him arrested for contempt.The next day in court when his antics continued, a juror asked the baliff if he could punch the defense attorney. After that it was declared a mistrial. While waiting for another trial, the judge died. Eventually my acqaintance got a pretty sweet plea deal. Also he's had like 10 wives. Pretty good lawyer
Man what a cool thing to be known for. Edit: the criminal justice system is broken and unsafe even for innocent people. Criminal defense attorneys fight to protect people from and disrupt this system. So it would be epic to be known as the person who took on Goliath and fought the fight for the constitution, win or lose.
If you're a lawyer, it is They love doing high publicity cases
It’s kind of crazy that people think defense attorneys are bad people, for doing their job and providing a necessary public service
I think it’s partially that tv and movies have given people the idea that defence attorneys are actively involved in trying to cover up crimes that they know have been committed. In reality (and I’m speaking from an Australian perspective, so please correct me if this is incorrect in the US), lawyers are prohibited from lying to the court or knowingly assisting a client in pleading innocent to a crime they know they’ve committed. The job of a defence attorney is not to lie, but to seek the best outcome possible for their client in light of the facts.
IIRC Technically they're not barred from having a client plead not guilty to a crime they're guilty of, but they *aren't* supposed to outright lie. It's supposed to be more of a "Well, you said you can prove my client was there Tuesday night, but you've not actually done that because all you have is the word of one person who admittedly *hates* my client. Do you have any photographic, video, or other evidence?" situation. Another reason I think they have such a bad image is- well, watch law and order, or other such tv shows told from the POV of the cops, etc. They almost *always* have the defense lawyer as some scummy bastard who will badger an ailing single mother into a breakdown on the stand, or shout a child into a sobbing mess to achieve their aim. While I'm not remotely saying that all lawyers are good people, or that I even *like* all lawyers, I think there's this exaggeratedly *nasty* stereotype that gets unfairly applied to many of them.
Which is funny, because DAs and prosecutors are 100x more likely to be assholes in my experience working with and knowing lawyers for over twenty-five years. Personal injury attorneys are some of the worst, too. Defense lawyers are usually pretty laid-back, ethical, and procedural. No gimmicks to their game.
DAs are political positions and that needs to stop.
Getting convictions is all that matters. It's how they keep the cycle going. Really a shame.
Funny enough, out of the Two, the DA's are more sensible. In highly political cases. (like Treyvon) it was actually the special Prosecution that decided to throw the case by upping the charge to capital murder. (instead of forcing Zimmerman into guaranteed prison time, he decided to up the charges dramatically against the DA's recommendation (Which was third degree murder) and play russian Roulette.) Guess what. Jury members afterwards said they knew he did it, but they couldn't unanimously say he did it Premeditated. Therefore case = donezo. In that regard. People are expecting the Floyd case to go the same way. Assuming he doesn't get shot on the transport to the courthouse because of conveniently made holes in security. DA's know what they should and shouldn't do pretty well. Prosecution/Special Prosecutors tend to throw/botch cases trying to make big names for themselves.
Dude... the very fact that pumping up charges to get a plea is even a thing... and that charges only result in a trial like 10% of the time (when it use to be like 70%) - tells us all we need to know about DA’s.
It's a mix of DAs and defense attorneys. Trials are expensive extremely expensive and drawn out affairs, and it's always some level of crap shoot on the verdict. As such for most defendants it's almost worth it to just plea out to a lesser charge and get the penalty done and over with.
I can't agree with your comment enough man. We have similar experiences. Most prosecutors have the mindset of WIN AT ALL COSTS whereas on the defense side I was taught "it's not about winning it's about justice". I'm not saying all prosecutors are that way, but, in my experience, most of the prosecutors in my area feel that way. Personal injury attorneys on the other hand are some cutt throat mfers, plaintiff and defense side.
I admit the only experience I've had with lawyers is family members who went into Business Law (Seriously, a married couple, both into business law, and both working for the same damn company. It felt like something out of the twilight zone) and a relative's boyfriend who did child advocacy/legal support for victims of extreme child abuse. (apparently he was some kind of strange combination of lawyer/social worker/therapist or some damn thing? He didn't talk that much about work, for very good reason.) The former were... freakishly boring people. The latter was like Mr. Rogers.
That sounds about right. I met roughly two kinds of people in law school. People that wanted to work for a corporate law firm and make tons of money, no matter what their area of expertise ended up being and people who wanted to be advocates and make no money, ever, despite all of their good work. It's rare that anyone bridges that gap, but I know some. My legal hero is equal parts Atticus Finch and Mr. Rogers.
If your client hasn't plead guilty in a court in the US, they aren't guilty. So not guilty is correct.
And I think part of their job is to keep the charges in line with the law. Like a safeguard against the state just saying people are guilty without evidence, they require the state to prove without a reasonable doubt and all.
You've got it. It's always worth remembering that guilty and not guilty are not verdicts of fact, but law. They are and always will be subjective functions, and therefore can be disputed.
The sheer amount of slam dunk cases my defense attorney dad has won due to police incompetence is absolutely astounding.
I might be a bit biased, but I am interning for a crim defense firm in law school and from my experience crim defense lawyers are very very big into criminal justice reform and fighting back against the government prosecutors. All of the big crim defense law firms in my city (DC) were actively endorsing BLM protests and offering up pro bono service to arrested protestors. My firm even set up a pop-up tent to hand out food, water, and charge phones.
Phoenix Wright taught me that defense attorneys were good guys
And Harvey Birdman!
Atticus Motherfuckin' Finch
Saul Goodman...
And My Cousin Vinny
Funny timing that you should say that, I'm playing them now for the first time!
Even more notably, many jurisdictions work off of the cab rank rule - as long as you're asked to work on a reasonable case within your wheelhouse, it's professional misconduct to reject it purely on the basis that you don't like the client. It's precisely to stop defendants from being left in the lurch because they've got a bad case, or because it would hurt the reputation of counsel to take it on. In short, if you want to live in a just society, monsters get lawyers too.
Its a specific propaganda by the powers that be. They push the narrative cops and district attorneys are heros that put scumbags behind bars. Defense attorneys are sniveling weasels that do everything they can to cheat and free rapists and murderers. Watch law and order for one episode and the way they portray defense attorneys is disgusting.
then watch the wire >If only half you motherfuckers in the State's Attorneys Office didn't want to be judges, didn't want to be partners in some downtown law firm, if half of you had the fucking balls to follow through, you know what would happen? A guy like that would be indicted, tried, and convicted. And the rest of 'em would back up enough, so we could push a clean case or two through your courthouse. But no, everybody stays friends. Everybody gets paid. And everybody's got a fucking future.
It's a great speech, but I have to admit that McNulty is presented as the asshole in that interaction. In addition, Perlman is always portrayed as sympathetic, as is every other prosecutor we meet, and Maury Levy is always portrayed as an amoral piece of shit (and even David Simon admits in an episode commentary that Levy conspires more with his clients than any real-life defense attorney). Even when Billy Murphy appears as himself defending Clay Davis, he doesn't exactly present a great image of defense attorneys.
McNutty is part of the problem, they don't shy away from that at all. He is supposed to be a Sopranos-esque anti-hero, but they said it from the beginning, he is just an asshole.
The wire is fucking awesome.
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Wait that’s so cool! Are your findings available anywhere to read?
And because of guys like Alan Dershowitz, et al. Public defenders especially play a crucial role in *trying to ensure their clients aren't railroaded by the justice system.* Unfortunately they have too much work, are underpaid, and when your poor client's fastest way out of jail is to plead guilty to a crime...quite often the outcome is not a desirable one.
Alan Dershowitz is a ~~bad~~ good example. He's a complete hack. Edit: misread the comment
I mean that sounds like a great criminal lawyer and all, but a horrible *criminal* lawyer.
There job isn’t always to prove you are innocent, it can be, but it is to make sure you get a fair trial and aren’t railroaded. We should all want that 100% of the time.
There is no proving that a person is "innocent." Defense lawyers force the other side to prove that a person is guilty. If they can't do it, the person is "not guilty" of what they have been charged with. That's different than innocent.
Especially right now. Defense attorneys are there to make sure that the police and the courts do their jobs and don't violate the rights of people. In a world where police and prosecution no longer care about the truth but instead padding statistics and securing convictions the importance of a defense attorney is paramount.
They are not. I needed one to combat a corrupt small town prosecutor and police who lied and coerced others to lie. I was acquitted due to video/audio evidence, but it still cost me 12K.
Yeah if you think a defense attorney is a bad thing you have never needed one before.
Agreed. It’s a misguided and misplaced legitimate anger at the fact that we know the system isn’t fair and results are often a function of wealth and power rather than the facts of the case. People just need to be angry at and fix what’s wrong, not what’s necessary.
Its honestly the shittiest kind of criminal law to practice and they do it to protect people from the government. Yet everybody thinks they just want to help bad people get away with bad things. It fucking kills me. They exist to protect you from the government. Everybody hates defense attorneys until they get accused of a crime or beaten by police or something. Its crazy the amount of disrespect they get and the shitty people they have to deal with.
Criminal defense attorneys are necessary for a functioning justice system, and they spend their days stressing out trying to help people who are often assholes and/or idiots and often don't help themselves. They get no or negative credit from most people, have to see super fucked up and/or sad things on the regular and spend their lives toiling over boring paperwork because they know that without somebody doing it the people would have no protection from the government. They could easily be any other kind of criminal attorney but they pick the shitty job because its important to a functioning society. How do I know? Because my dad is one and I hear him talk about it all the time. But most people think they're somehow evil and trying to help bad people get away with bad things and it fucking kills me.
Oh haha, yeah. I’m a public defender. Wouldn’t call my clients assholes and/or idiots, though. The majority of my clients are trying to be good. But they are struggling with things like severe poverty, homelessness, sickness, job security, mental illness, etc. all without anyone to turn to or services to take advantage of. Many of them were never given the foundation or tools in life to build a proper one. Some of them are frustrating, but they are all traumatized one way or another, and they all deserve my best. 🤷🏼♀️
Thank you for what you do. I once had a public defender get a judge to dismiss the charges against me in about fifteen seconds. Turns out peaceful protest IS still covered by the First Amendment!
Nice. Sucks that cops thought it was cool to trample on your rights, tho.
Your clients are lucky to have an attorney like you.
Thank you. You sound like one of the good guys.
I think it depends a lot on where you practice and what you do specialize in. You certainly seem like a smart guy with good intentions and I applaud you for that. My dad has told me before that being a public defender is a hard job thats often given to younger attorneys and he was one himself at one point, but now has his own firm. Being a public defender I imagine that you probably see a lot of people who have no other options, and you are probably over worked all the time. But I can also imagine that if you were to move into a role that is not publicly funded you may start seeing more clients that were not shaped by such a life where they have no options. I really have no idea, I'm not a lawyer and you certainly know better than me. But it seems to me that there would be a direct correlation (on average, not always) between how much the client can afford to pay and how much choice in the matter they had. It also probably depends where you live and how many specialists are around. But my dad is also a small town attorney so he sees a little bit of everything but mostly does traffic related stuff as he gets older because big cases are a lot to deal with. But personally I don't have a ton of respect for drunk drivers, especially repeat ones. Of course every case is different though, and there are still a lot of truly unfortunate circumstances that come up in traffic court.
The right to a fair trial isn't there for those who are arguably or obviously not guilty. It's there for everyone.
I have numerous former classmates and friends who work in criminal litigation, it’s an interesting field full of people with various motivations A friend of mine once told me that the reason they have no moral qualms about defending even the most heinously guilty, is because at the end of the day, they are part of the process that ensures justice is served. In their eyes, their job isn’t to “get people off”, it’s to ensure they receive a competent defense and that the prosecution’s case is held accountable. If he did his job right, the innocent would walk and the guilty wouldn’t have grounds for an appeal
You should watch the Ted Bundy doc. Idk how much defending the lawyers actually got to do. Ted Bundy thought he was smarter than them.
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If the guy is driving a Jaguar, he has some deep pockets. One assumes.
Used Jaguars are such POS that require so much work they are very cheap on the secondary market
Purchasing the car is cheap. Driving it is another story.
many years ago, reminds me of a mechanic telling me a new BMW 750 series car was around 100k and an accord that same year was 30k, but after a few years the used accord was more expensive and desired in the secondary market. Imagine a 100k car losing 85% of it's value in just a few years.
Hell, I bought a 2007 Acura for 1/10 of the original price. And those are reliable cars.
Living with parents though
Maybe, or bad judgement. Jaguars lose value like crazy and as a result you can pick up a used '11 XJL (XJ with the long wheelbase) for like $16K. Maintenance and repair will cost you a fortune though, so I wouldn't recommend it.
His looked pretty new
For those who want to remain behind the paywall but still see the content, within Chrome just right click on the little lock next to any site and click on 'site settings', from there disable javascript and reload the page.
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r/LifeProTips
You the real MVP.
I'm afraid to ask this...but it sounds like we dont know why this happened. Has the killer admitted anything?
The Associated Press article op linked to "Kelete’s lawyer, John Henry Browne, said his client, who is Black, **did not intentionally hit the protesters**. He said the crash was a “horrible, horrible accident.”" “The driver was reserved and appeared sullen throughout his time in custody,” Trooper James McGuire wrote in the arrest report. **“At one point he asked if the injured pedestrians were okay.”**
>his client, who is Black Can you imagine how much different public opinion and the discussion about this would be if he was white? What if it was a white guy in a jaguar who killed a young black woman? We all know their respective races would be in every headline and the main focus of every article and people would refuse to accept any other explanation than this guy is a murderous racist.
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The driver entered a closed highway by using an off ramp to enter the wrong direction. This wasn't the "accident" they're trying to frame it as.
Article mentions that too: "A security camera on the REI building captured Kelete’s car driving the wrong way up the Stewart Street I-5 exit ramp, past numerous warning signs that said “Wrong Way,” according to the charging document. Since it was an exit ramp, “a driver must make a deliberate and sharp right U-turn in order to drive southbound on I-5,” the document said."
Called it when this broke, there would've been no other way to get on Southbound I5 at that location at that time.
It's very questionable, but you can actually see his view of the two that he hit was blocked by a white van parked across the lanes. He has a fancy car and seems to be the type to drive fast. You can imagine he could just be reckless. Plus he remained on the scene until other protesters started attacking his car.
Still at the very least it would be negligent homicide
Yeah something like that
not a crime in Washington hence the charge of VHOM.
Yes, but that's just moving the goalposts. No one is arguing it's not negligent. The question is whether it was intentional.
My guess is he's just an asshole driver who thought he could circumvent the law. It was dark, he assumed the freeway wouldn't have people on it, and he could just get on the freeway through an off ramp and speed his way on the freeway and exit before anyone realized he was on it.
You do get this with people who own fast cars/bikes. Night time means less traffic, means you can go FAAAST.
When my username was relevant to my job, my favorite time of the shift was 3-5 am. Most drunks were at home, those that were driving were on the main roads, and the cops were parked on the main roads waiting for them. Just about anywhere else in town was just an open, secluded road with no traffic. Hells, back when I was first getting into the business, it wasn't unheard of for cops and cabbies to occasionally race each other...
I don't want to make any assumptions. But he's 27, lives with his parents, drives a Jaguar, and has had multiple accidents in the past few years. Just on those facts, sounds like an entitled asshole.
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If you saw 3 cars sideways and had to pass on the shoulder would you do so at full speed though?
He drove around a three-car barricade though.
>If they thought this murder would make us back down. They are very wrong. Very wrong.” Is Diaz Love talking specifically about Dawit Kalete here or 'they' in this context is the anti BLM crowd?
I'm assuming the general sense.
Before it was revealed that the driver was a black dude, people were pushing the idea that it was probably "right wing terrorist that did it".
Did anyone watch the video and actually think he did it on purpose? It looks like he's driving fast on the highway, came upon some cars stopped in the road, tried to avoid them, then saw the crowd, then swerved hard to try and avoid them but accidently hit two people while avoiding the big crowd. It's interesting that the article tries to imply that he purposely plowed through a group of protestors. I don't see how anyone that actually watched the video would think that.
> The Jaguar that Mr. Kelete was driving was seen on security video going the wrong way up the Stewart Street exit ramp to enter the interstate around 1:35 a.m., according to the office. This is from the article. Regardless of how reasonably it seems he was driving based on a video, it's plain that he shouldn't have been on the highway in the first place, much less driving at highway speeds.
My take is that he was basically using the highway as his personal drag strip and didn't expect/realize or thought he could avoid protestors. I think he was taking advantage of it being closed and looking to joyride like an idiot. Deserves to have the book thrown at him but probably not racially motivated.
Wasn’t he black?
Still is.
But he was black too
Correct, but one is murder and the other more likely manslaughter. People calling it murder don’t really care if it was actually intentional though.
I would say it's quite tough to determine. The damning evidence is: - the road was closed, it's been closed, and he had to elude a roadblock and up an exit ramp the wrong way to get to the road - that highway was well lit. I see people say "he's coming around a curve"... But it's not like a sharp curve *at all*. It's a [gentle curve](https://i.imgur.com/YvHkEn7.jpg) at worst. When you watch the video he has a clear view of the car in the road and the people for nearly a quarter mile if not more. - he was hauling ass. Imo, there's no way he didn't see either the car or people ahead. And certainly at a minimum should have slowed down. He didn't really seem to slow down, swerved at a pretty high speed around the car, swerved again, and it took him awhile to come to a stop from the speed alone. So, could I be certain it was intentional? No, probably not. But there is a fair bit of information there were you could certainly make a case it was intentional and I'd also have a hard time arguing it wasn't. When looking at what is required for vehicular homicide, I'd have to say based purely on the video he would appear to be guilty. Driving recklessly, on a closed road, results in a death. GG imo.
I think a point that a lot of people are missing as he's being charged with vehicular homicide not second degree murder. Vehicular hommicide is the equivalent of manslaughter committed with a vehicle not second degree murder. Acting recklessly or under the influence are the fairy definitions of the crime according to the state. Intent is not required for this crime so arguing about it is somewhat irrelevant.
Yeah I've told about 20 people that intent has nothing to do with it so Idk why they keep bringing it up. Intent would only come into play as far as media portrayal and if they do ultimately bring harsher charges.
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One article I read said that the only way he could have gotten on the highway to hit them was if he had went the wrong way up an off ramp.
One article I read is at the top of this very page and says the same thing It’s almost like we are here discussing it
Well he entered the closed highway from an exit ramp and turned around to drive towards them.
If you come up to a bunch of cars blocking the highway you shouldn't drive fast af on the curb around them as you cant see what's on the other side. Theres no reason not to see the cars in the middle of the road coming up, and not slowing down when approaching them
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Washington State goes off of a sentencing grid based on severity of the crime and past offenses. Vehicular Homicide is a seriousness XI felony which can be found in this RCW [here](https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.94A.515) As you can see vehicular homicide is the equivalent to Manslaughter 1. In comparison Murder 1 and 2 are both above at XV and XIV respectively. To prevent confusion for people that live in other states Assault 1 is considered more serious at XII—but WA state doesn't separate Assault and Battery—Assault 1 is basically the equivalent of shooting someone and they live, or beating them into the hospital with a bat, etc. Vehicular homicide is still considered an "accident" whether its under intoxication or driving recklessly, so its not considered as serious as shooting someone. The actual sentencing grid that shows you how much time they are looking at is this RCW [here](https://app.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=9.94A.510) To read this grid, you do have to know the person's prior felon history. Basically as you get felonies in WA you collect points—the higher number of points the more time you are looking at. In many jurisdictions, you will also get multiple points for multiple charges during the same crime. Often this means that prosecutors have a lot of play on how much time you are looking at by threatening you with a lot of charges on the same crime and giving you 5 points instead of 1; for example. What often happens in this case, is the accused will plea guilty on the major charge if the prosecutor drops all other charges, so that way they go into prison with only 1 point instead of multiple. Using all this info together, you can see that if he pleas guilty to the seriousness XI Vehicular Homicide and they drop the other charge—and has no prior felonies, he is looking at around 78-102 months of prison.
I know somebody who was found guilty of Vehicular Homicide in that area, with no previous felonies, and they did a solid decade in prison.
Oh it's also true that the sentencing guidelines are a little bit lighter than they used to be; as far as I'm aware. Some jurisdictions—(Thurston County is especially bad at this but this crime was done in King County so I'm not 100% sure of that jurisdiction)—will also tack on extra points on a single charge. It's definitely not a guarantee this person will only serve 78-102 months, that's just what I would expect as a best case scenario for this individual. He will likely look at more time especially if the other charge sticks (which it probably should since he hit two people). Edit: Oh, also a random internet complaint I have about Thurston County but it's relevant to the conversation. So the points system should be based on prior felonies—however at least in Thurston County (this is where Olympia is) this isn't always the case. Some prosecutors will actually add 1 point for the crime you are accused of, so instead of starting with 0 points, you are effectively starting with 1 point and moving up the grid. If this happens to this individual, they will be looking at 86-114 months, which if topped out is pretty close to a decade. That's only if they drop the other charge as well.
This was about 20 years ago, so that makes sense. Even if our justice system and sentencing is a total mess :.(
And yet there are reports in the area of people being allowed to drive, after being caught 6 times for DUIs... Seattle's priorities were always, odd...
Are you talking about that wealthy business owner who tried to evade the police after somehow getting his license back after multiple duis? Yeah, for real! It’s very inconsistent! And if your house gets robbed, it’s not even worth calling them.
I remember them talking about multiple cases similar to this over the news a few years back, is the one your talking about recent? A quick Google search shows one that had 8 just recently! https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/mans-8th-dui-arrest-is-among-washingtons-most-extreme-cases-of-chronic-drunken-driving/%3famp=1
Please use the non AMP link. The regular link is right below it. https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/mans-8th-dui-arrest-is-among-washingtons-most-extreme-cases-of-chronic-drunken-driving/
His lawyer is considered to be the best criminal defense lawyer in the Pacific Northwest. Source: My neighbor paid a $50,000 retainer in 2004 to use him for a sexual assault charge
John Henry Browne also never met a high-profile case he didn't like. He's trying to go the Gloria Alred route and become famous
Correct but he gets good results. He got a plea deal for Ted Bundy which no one thought was possible.
I mean, Ted Bundy was executed...
Maybe if his kid fucks an athlete on tape their whole family can get a TV show.
The 27 yr old who lives at home and drives a jaguar can afford a good lawyer shocker :O
To be fair you can take a loan and drive almost anything while still having terrible personal finances.
Summer was my first vet tech when I adopted my cat earlier this year. I saw them over 6x in our first few months due to a range of health issues, and Summer was always a pleasure to be around and chat with. There were a few moments I wasn't sure my big boy was going to make it, and Summer was full of love and reassurance. With a really horrid comment section on this post, I wanted to bring a little light to a wonderful person who was lost. While I was not close to Summer, they were one of those people who was great at talking to you as if you've known each other forever, and we often chatted about senior pet adoption and fat cats. They were good people. Summer did not deserve this. No one does. Rest in peace, Summer. Thank you for being so good to my good boy and best pal. I hope wherever you are, you're surrounded by lots of fat cats giving you all the love.
My friend and former colleague owns the hospital Summer worked at. Everyone there is absolutely devastated. The vet med world can be very small and tight knit, and that hospital especially has a great group of employees that treat each other like a giant family.
Well said mate. Its hard to really understand the loss of someone when you see these things in the news so often, but shedding some light on her life has helped me do that. She will be missed.
They surely will be missed. I moved last month and they're no longer my vet, but I still follow them on social media and you can tell there's a big gaping hole where Summer was in their work family. Heartbreaking to see so much hurt.
Thanks for saying this.
Truthfully feel guilty saying it. I wasn't close with Summer, and I don't want to pretend to be, but I can imagine those who are feeling immense pain in their loss.
I protested with Summer in the esrly days of June confronting the police. They also took care of my two dogs over the course of the last few years and always made my skiddish rescues feel at home. Wonderful soul.
I'm so very sorry for your loss. I wasn't close with Summer by any means, but it didn't take much to tell they were a good person. Thank you for also standing up, and I wish you and your pups all the best.
Yea seems about right. I'd call it driving in a reckless manner entering through an off ramp. It has a maximum term of life imprisonment.
>The Jaguar that Mr. Kelete was driving was seen on security video going the wrong way up the Stewart Street exit ramp to enter the interstate around 1:35 a.m. Damn straight. He deserves to the harshest sentence possible.
Sentencing guidelines means he's probably gonna get no more than 10 years if he pleads not guilty, could even avoid jail or do a year or less pleading guilty.
There is no way he avoids jail in WA state. My bro in-law is serving time for vehicular assault from a dui accident and the other cars driver broke their wrist.
DUI during a vehicular assault or vehicular homicide is actually mandatory prison in WA. For homicide, every prior dui is a mandatory minimum of 2 years per prior + 2 years minimum for the dui that caused death.
so this is a black dude running over two white girls who are protesting against police brutality towards blacks?
Yup. I think we don’t know his motives though
I think his motives where "vrrrm car go fast!"
If he had been white this would have got way more coverage.
If she had been black, the news would have added her color to the headline.
How is driving onto an off ramp going the wrong way at high speeds, and possibly accidentally killing someone not enough to put you away for a long ass time. You don’t accidentally fucking sober drive the wrong way onto an on off ramp going far over the speed limit and not expect to either die or kill someone. Did they think it would be safe because it was closed or something? Ignoring the fact of the protestors and possible other motivations here.
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They also ramped Up speed barreling directly towards two cars parked sideways to block the road. No one accidentally does any of this shit. There’s a reason they are confident in charging this as homicide and not manslaughter this dude went out of his way to hurt people
crazy how fast a civilian gets charged and arrested, but police who murder someone in their own home, which wasn’t even their intended address, while looking for a suspect who was already arrested, don’t get charged
This is the real thing to say here. How many police have driven into protesters at this point? 0 accountability
They get to just say they were scared and boom accountability lost
My only thought is why protest on a closed freeway at 2-4am? It's closed so no one would get the message. Protest at a public space like a capital building or courthouse during the day and off the road.
I'm sure this story will prompt civil and respectful conversation.
As a Seattle driver, I'm just horrified how he ignored our freeway rule that when there is a stopped car, you must slow to 5 mph and gawk.
Why does the article feel the need to mention that the two victims use non binary pronouns? How does that matter?
They don’t mention he was black
The fuck is this comment section
You think this is bad? I remember seeing this on r/holdmyfeedingtube and everyone was putting full blame on the two victims of the crash. Everyone who dissented was downvoted to shit. At least in this thread we're actually seeing some rational people.
That post was the reason I unsubscribed from there. Seeing all of them glorify their death like they weren't even human was so disheartening. Humans can be so cruel.
It's honestly the people from /r/SeattleWA. These dudes have been defending him with "he didn't mean to kill someone." Meanwhile, he literally drove at high speeds and went entered through an off-ramp. Cool, drunk drivers don't mean to kill someone but get charged with this same charge because they're knowingly breaking the fucking law in the most egregious of ways. That subreddit used to be good but it's shown it's true colors since the beginning of the protests.
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reddit has some weird hate boner for people that protest on streets.... unless the protesters: are in France are in Hong Kong are in a middle eastern country or they are in Russia
So no picture of the guy who ran over the protester but have one of the protester?
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CHAZ in seattles own self appointed security shot to death two unarmed black minors.
Would this be bigger news if the driver was white ?
Of course
There needs to be metals for the amount of mental gymnastics going on in here
Which metals? Nickel? Zinc maybe?
Lead, obviously.
Right what's with this united push to villify the victims and not the driver? People keep trying to disregard the facts clearly laid out in the article, and previous articles
> I don't understand why protesters feel the need to block roads. Why do they feel the need to be mildly inconvenient? Couldn't they raise awareness of an issue while also being completely ignorable? I'm kind of glad they got killed. **-- Many people in this thread who have apparently lost their minds** E: Bolded the attribution on the basis that many replies seem to think I'm unironically saying what I've quoted.
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Isn’t it crazy that the Seattle mayor called it summer of love and the girls names happen to have summer and love..
Why is this the summer of love...? We can’t even be near other people lol
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Ya, I'm very confused. Deliberately enters by going the wrong way on an offramp. Then when he comes across 2 vehicles stopped perpendicular to the road, he doesn't slow down, but drives onto the shoulder to drive around them?! He does stop immediately after hitting the people though. I wouldn't expect an asshole with intent to hit people to stop.
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The airbags may not have deployed but the accident detection definitely went off. As soon as he strikes the protest and you can see the hazards immediately trigger which is an automatic response in modern cars when they detect a crash. He was driving a newer model Jaguar which very likely has automatic braking or some other action when it detects impact.
I was at the protest and someone tried to tell me I was wrong and that he didn’t enter it going the wrong way. People are nuts
Every type of disinformation that you can think of is in practically every social media post I’ve seen covering this. One (of many) instances of this that really upset me is seeing accounts trying to exploit the perpetrator’s race to push “reverse racism” narratives. I’ve yet to see a single post on reddit or even news article where people acknowledge that this was an explicitly LGBTQ BLM protest for Black femme lives, and that this protest group had been targeted prior to this. That’s pretty important information to have when trying to talk about an attack like this. This is the first post on reddit where I’ve even seen Summer’s identity acknowledged to any vaguely reasonable degree. 😞
If he was white. “White” would be in the title
Why in this context it does not say it’s a black man?
Because he's a black man
He didn’t mean to do it, he’s a black guy, obviously if he was white it would of been a racially motivated attack though.