What is worse – driving drunk and running over a child or being sober and running over a child?

I think it’s a heck of a lot worse if a sober person kills someone or causes an accident.

If you’re planning on doing it – don’t! This is premeditated murder and the prosecutors will figure it out.

But if you’re just wondering, or too lazy to do your criminal law homework, then it depends on the intent.

If the guy is sober, and intentionally runs over a child, that’s straight-up murder. He will be raped by cellmates, beaten to a pulp, and get the needle in 20 years.

If the guy was only distracted – talking/arguing on the cell, looking at map, officiating fights of his own kids in the backseat, attacked by his Chihuahua, shot by Dick Cheney, etc., then we’re talking about lesser degrees of murder. Probably vehicular manslaughter and about 10 years or less.

Now, if the guy is drunk and runs over a kid, he’s up for drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter. In some states, there are special laws that make the sentence especially harsh. This is because being drunk actually takes away the “intentional” part of the murder, but people decided that drunk driving and killing people is no less culpable.

So…

1) DON’T DO IT!
2) Let me know if your law professor liked the answer; or
3) Still wanna be a lawyer?