Your Life's Worth Less if You're Not Married

On May 23, 2018, a young man named Cameron Herrin decided to partake in a drag race across Tampa, Florida’s Bayshore Boulevard.  As a result, he killed two people: a woman and her child.  He was sentenced to twenty-four years in prison; he was eighteen.

Eight years later, a middle-aged man named Mustafa Eltayeb jumped a curb in his car and fatally hit a 38-year-old man named Sean King; this occurred in Fairfax, Virginia’s Leesburg Pike.  He was sentenced to twenty hours of community service.  Eltayeb was forty-three.

On the surface, this appears to be unequal justice: two very different sentences for the same crime.  Dig deeper, and this is VERY unequal justice: two very different sentences for the same crime, and my theory is that it’s due to the marital/parental status of the victims.  Comments on the YouTube video of Herrin’s sentencing included the following:

“I feel so sorry for the father. He lost his love and daughter, and these tiktokers actually defend the murderer and go against the poor man instead. This is just heartbreaking and disgusting.” - @Saturnforce5

“I truly feel sorry for that man(widowed) I'm in tears. Not only his wife, but his daughter, not even 24 years in prison will compensate for the heartbreak that he must be going through.” - @mio4541

“The mother and her child got life, he got off too easy.” - @rogergraham5902

In these instances, it wasn’t that these two people were killed.  It was that they were a wife and a mother that were killed.  And, to be sure, I sympathize with the husband.  And I don’t condone Mr. Herrin’s reckless driving.  I believe he should be sentenced to jail, but I think three to five years would be sufficient, along with a ten-year revocation of his license.  A letter of apology to the family and a community service requirement where he speaks to kids about the dangers of reckless driving would also be a nice touch. 

Now, let’s go to Sean King.  He did have a girlfriend who spoke to reporters.  But as far as we know, no spouse or kids.  So in a judge’s eyes, his life doesn’t matter, at least not as much as someone with a baby daughter and a man who signed that piece of paper.

I was heartened to see the comments were just as eviscerating of Mr. Eltayeb, and I would recommend the same sentence as Mr. Herrin.  He wasn’t drag racing, but he was distracted.  And when he came out of the courtroom, he denied even being involved in the crash.  If that’s not sociopathic behavior, I don’t know what is.  Just for fun, though, here are some of the comments on this video, which cared only that he was a person:

“Wow. Only 20hrs of community service for killing a man. Your community will remember this and how you betrayed them.” - @alexandbao

“Community service for killing somebody?!!!! Wtf” - @Ziggy33-j4s

“If the victim had been married and a parent, that guy would be behind bars for double digits. Unequal justice.”
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The last one came from me.  It got three likes.  Not sure who they are, but they get it.  I wish our legal system did.