Repug Lawmaker pleads guilty in fatal crash- WILL DO NO JAILTIME!

[Ian David]

STILLWATER, Okla. - A former congressman pleaded no contest Monday to misdemeanor negligent homicide in a traffic accident that killed a couple and injured their young daughters. He is to serve no jail time.

Former Republican Rep. Wes Watkins was sentenced to three months on each of two counts; Payne County Special Judge Michael Stano deferred the sentences and ordered they run concurrently.

As long as Watkins commits no offense in that time, he will serve no jail time in the April 19 deaths of Brian Cullen, 30, and Ardith Cullen, 34, the judge said.

He had faced a maximum of one year in county jail and $1,000 in fines for each charge.

District Attorney Rob Hudson said he handled Watkins' case the same way he would have handled any similar negligent homicide in which the driver was guilty only of "inattentive driving."

Watkins, who represented Oklahoma's 3rd Congressional District from 1977 to 1990 and from 1997 to 2002, was also sued for damages by relatives of the victims. The lawsuit was settled for $2 million.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=536&e=7&u=/ap/20041221/ap_on_re_us/ex_congressman_s_accident
Avg Rating: 3.29, 7 votes - Your Rating: 5

[Downtown Hound]

1. Rated it a 5

[lostnfound]

2. Very sad for the family but I don't see anything wrong with the ruling.

We don't put people in prison for negligent driving.

If it turns out he was DUI I would have a completely different opinion.

[oneold1-4u]

4. Drunk driving lesson

I once had to go to a seminar for not wearing seat belt.(law was new)
They showed pics of 2 accidents where 7 died not under belts. I lived near these accidents and knew they were both caused by drunk drivers who lived. They were both convicted of manslaughter but I asked the police person how long those people spent in jail. He said he was ashamed, but neither of them was in jail for more than 2 hours!
Now those of us (about 30) were expected to sit in a seminar for over 1 hour to learn about seat belts to protect us from drunk killers still on the road!

[ooglymoogly]

6. what do you think would have happened to democrat martha sterwart.....

had she been involved in such a crash? she got a year and a half for fibbing to the fbi, not for stock fraud just fibbing.

[Behind the Aegis]

3. Former Stillwater resident

Let me say that the town is aptly named! And, Watkins is a total tool! Even Rethugs didn't like him.

[Judi Lynn]

5. I'd be so hacked off if I'd been killed by this clown....

Why would not his driver's license be removed, or even set on fire? That was a grotesque error in judgement.

[musette_sf]

7. He'll be sentenced to attend

Laura Bush's support group - "It's Not My Fault / I Didn't Mean It"

[Mother Jones]

8. If it's good enough for your First Lady...

it's good enough for your lawmakers!